D.C. Artswatch
By • February 12, 2025 0 268
Trump Orders Impact National Arts Organizations
As directed by President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order requiring federal units to terminate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs within 60 days, the National Gallery of Art closed its Office of Belonging and Inclusion and removed references to DEI from its website. Within a few days, the Smithsonian Institution followed suit. On Feb. 7, the president posted on Truth Social that he was terminating Kennedy Center board members and installing himself as chairman. Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter is/was due to step down at the end of 2025; Chairman David M. Rubinstein in September of 2026.
Atlas Intersections Festival Starts This Saturday
This year’s Intersections Festival (“Where the Art World and Real World Intersect”) at the Atlas Performing Arts Center on H Street NE, the first under Executive Director Jarrod Bennett, will run from Saturday, Feb. 15, through Sunday, March 16. Opening night will feature the vaudeville experience “Eva Mystique”; a performance by Glade Dance Collective, part of the NACHMO DC Sampler Showcase; and “stories of discovery and exploration of the human condition” from Aerial Ignition, Sydney Ignacio’s new aerial and dance company. Festival Passes are available for $74.75 for three shows and $107.25 for five, including fees.
End of the Line for Capital Fringe Festival
Julianne Brienza, who launched Capital Fringe in 2005, winning several Mayor’s Arts Awards, announced that the 2024 festival, held from July 11 to 21 in the Golden Triangle neighborhood, would be the last. The first festival — one of about 30 in the U.S showcasing low-budget, cutting-edge theater and dance — was held downtown in July of 2006. With support from the Georgetown Business Improvement District, Capital Fringe took place in several pandemic-vacated spaces on M Street NW in 2022 and 2023. The nonprofit’s endowment will be used to set up an annual award for an individual artist in any field.
Textile Museum Is Celebrating Its Centennial
The Textile Museum, which moved 10 years ago to a new building connected to historic Woodhull House on the GW campus, sharing the facility with the George Washington University Museum, is marking its centennial with celebratory exhibitions and events. Founded in 1925 by George Hewitt Myers, for 80 years the museum occupied two Kalorama buildings with back gardens: the former Myers residence at 2320 S St. NW and the adjacent mansion at 2330. The pair was purchased for $23 million in 2016 by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who had become the owner of the Washington Post three years earlier.
Smithsonian Removes American Art Museum Director
Stephanie Stebich, the Margaret and Terry Stent Director since 2017 of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, which oversees the Renwick Gallery, was removed from the position last summer, becoming a senior advisor at the Smithsonian in September. Though staff members were initially told she was taking medical leave, a Nov. 18 Washington Post article reported that, while Stebich shined as a fundraiser, she created “an atmosphere of fear and recrimination,” according to employees who were interviewed. Jane Carpenter-Rock, deputy director for museum content and outreach, is serving as SAAM’s acting director.
New Director at National Museum of African Art
John K. Lapiana, interim director of the National Museum of African Art for two years, was named the museum’s director last November. Lapiana, who joined the general counsel’s office at the Smithsonian in 1998, has held several Smithsonian positions, including, prior to his interim directorship, senior advisor to Under Secretary for Museums and Culture Kevin Gover. Also appointed, as deputy director: Heran Sereke-Brhan, former executive director of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, who earned her Ph.D. at Michigan State University, focusing on African, African American and Caribbean history.
Glen Echo Park Supporter Dies, Doc Wins Award
Nancy Long, who as a Glen Echo Town Council member led the successful effort to save Glen Echo Park’s 1921 Dentzel Carousel, died on Feb. 1 at age 96. Long also helped hang the park’s annual Labor Day Art Show for nearly 50 years and supported the establishment of the Glen Echo Park Foundation and the Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts & Culture. “Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round,” Ilana Trachtman’s 2024 documentary about the civil rights protests at the carousel, was named Best Documentary Feature at the DC Black Film Festival and continues to be screened at festivals and museums around the country.
