THE WASHINGTON POST • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2010
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artisphere from 25
Tuesday, and Sulu DC brings Asian American poets to the stage the third Sat- urday of the month. The globe that gives the building its distinctive shape hap- pens to be an ideal 220-person film ven- ue, featuring a slate of festivals that should please cinema fans. In November, the Rosebud Film Festival features in- novative and experimental local film- makers, and the Andean film festival, Ventana Andina 2010, arrives in Decem- ber. Also in the Dome Theatre, the Arling- ton Cinema ‘N’ Drafthouse will host oc- casional performances and talks by com- edy writers. The buffet of artistic fare also extends to family-friendly puppetry courtesy of the month-long KidsEuro Festival and the annual benefit for Fash- ion Fights Poverty, which has its head- quarters on the premises, featuring the colorful creations of Pakistani designer Nomi Ansari. What to see:Fashion Fights Poverty ben- efit in the ballroom Oct. 15 ($100); Sulu DC in the Dome Oct. 16 ($10); KidsEuro Festival: “What Does Red Do on Thurs- day?” Oct. 30 (free); open mike with Hol- ly Bass Nov. 2 (pay what you can).
MUSIC
The lineup of bands performing at Ar- tisphere reads like an eclectic iPod play- list: Afropop ensemble Chopteeth and blues crooner Memphis Gold and the All Stars will inaugurate the ballroom with free concerts Sunday, and the center will pulse with weekday performances of sal- sa, Latin jazz, swing and rock by local and touring acts. The Rosslyn Spectrum, Synetic Theater’s former home and now part of the Artisphere campus, will host the National Chamber Ensemble and occasional performances by the Alexan- dria Symphony. And the experimental music Sonic Circuits Festival will also establish a regular presence at Artisph- ere, in the Dome Theatre. If one event speaks to the center’s goal
of drawing younger faces, it’s the 11:01 Saturday Night series, late-night con- certs that begin Oct. 16 with rising D.C. electronic act Bluebrain and Geologist of the band Animal Collective and con- tinue with klezmer outfit Golem, electro- funk performers Fort Knox Five and fuzz punks the Death Set. What to see: Opening night perform- ances by Memphis Gold at 6 p.m. and Chopteeth at 9 p.m. Sunday (free). New York’s La Excelencia kicks off Artisph- ere’s “Salsa Tuesdays” in the ballroom Tuesday ($15-$20); Bluebrain with Geol- ogist on Oct. 16 ($15); and the Speedy Tol- liver Fiddle and Banjo Contest in the Dome Theatre on Oct. 24 (pay what you can). All tickets are available at the door.
stephanie.merry@
wpost.com ramanathanl@washpost.com
BILL O’LEARY/THE WASHINGTON POST The bar area and atrium take shape in the multi-level town-square section of Artisphere. FINDING THE RIGHT FIT FOR AN UNUSUAL SPACE
Nearly $6.7 million in interior renovations in nine months transformed the old Newseum building into Artisphere — a pittance compared with, say, the $85 million and two years that went into remaking the National Museum of American History. In the current economy, however, the investment is a clear sign that Arlington County has a deep interest in what happens under the arts center’s dome. To ensure its success, the county snagged a rent-free deal for Artisphere for 15 years, and the Rosslyn Business Improvement District pledged $1 million in start-up costs and $300,000 a year in support. So why was the building empty for eight
years? According to site plans, the next tenant “had to be some sort of cultural amenity,” says
Norma Kaplan, chief of the county’s cultural affairs division, which will run Artisphere for its first few years, after which it will become a private nonprofit entity. Museums were considered, as were theaters.
But only one idea stuck: an unusual space that could be both, plus a WiFi ready coffeehouse, a hub for ballroom dancing, a comedy club and a place to see spoken word, films and performances curated by groups that might otherwise find a home on U Street NW. “It certainly isn’t anything like a traditional cultural center,” Kaplan says. Seven-day-a-week programming, a forthcoming restaurant and performances by indie bands at 11 p.m. — all are designed to bring patrons into the space and keep them there not for just a couple of hours but perhaps for a whole night. (Artisphere hours extend to 2
a.m. on Saturdays and to 11 p.m. on weekdays.)
Some of the inspiration for the
anything-goes mantra of Artisphere came from the building itself. “Because the space was so idiosyncratic,” Kaplan says, “we had to come up with a program that might meet that space.”
Another influence, plainly seen in myriad panel discussions, open-mike events and workshops planned for the center, was the region’s burgeoning creative class. “One of the incredibly encouraging things about younger people today is that they don’t want to be a passive audience,” says Kaplan. “They don’t want to sit back and watch other creative people . . . they also are creative beings.”
—Lavanya Ramanathan
Far left, the Death Set will play Artisphere’s 11:01 Saturday Night series. Left, at last year’s party introducing the cultural arts center concept, visitors gathered in what is now the town-square area of the building.
FAR LEFT, NINJA TUNE; ABOVE, PINK LINE PROJECT
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