Arlington Cultural Affairs

Arlington, Virginia

Mission

Arlington Cultural Affairs creates an environment that encourages excellence within the Arlington arts community. Cultural Affairs provides programs and services that build community and transform lives by enhancing enjoyment and understanding of, and participation in, the arts.

Hearabouts

An arts incubator program directly serving traditional artists.  

Community Context

Located across the Potomac River from Washington DC, Arlington, Virginia is an urban county of 26 square miles with a population of 198,000. One in five County residents speaks a language other than English at home. Nearly 20% of residents are of Hispanic origin, principally from El Salvador, Peru and Bolivia; 9% are Asian, formerly mainly from Southeast Asia but that population is shrinking and the population of immigrants from Mongolia is quickly growing; and 9% are of other ethnic origin including a significant number from East Africa. Nearly 10% of residents are African American and the majority white population includes immigrants from the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

Hearabouts

Hearabouts is the part of Arlington Cultural Affairs’ “arts incubator” program that directly serves tradition-based artists. Cultural Affairs has a long record of supporting the arts in Arlington County by building the professional capacity of artists and arts groups through providing performance and work space, technical assistance and grant money, as well as skills development in business management and promotion.

Hearabouts was designed to address the specific needs of newcomer artists who wish to share their art in public venues and who may desire to become competitive in the mainstream arts arena. Each year we work intensively with up to four artists, ensembles, or organizations to strengthen management skills, develop cross-cultural presentation techniques, and encourage sound fiscal practices. The yearly curriculum is tailored to meet the needs of the current participating artists. The program builds on the strengths of each participating organization or artist while providing a structured workshop curriculum and connection to the resource network of the Washington DC area artistic community. An added bonus is that participants increase communication with peers from other traditional backgrounds. Each program cycle ends with a collaborative practicum for the participants, which usually consists of a free-to-the-public performance at Arlington’s outdoor amphitheater that has been entirely produced by the Hearabouts artists. Additionally, all participants leave the program having built their own press packet and with a small portfolio of professionally done photographs.

Past Hearabouts participants represent a wide range of artistic traditions and communities: Indian classical dance, Peruvian and Colombian folkloric dance, performing traditions from Turkey, Bolivia, Cambodia, Vietnam and beyond, as well as ritual performance and mural art from Guatemala.

The National Endowment for the Arts supported the program’s inaugural year in 2004. Because we are uniquely situated so near to Washington, DC, we have been able to take advantage of the expertise of subject matter experts from the Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, the National Council for the Traditional Arts, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as well as Arlington Cultural Affairs staff and independent consultants and arts professionals.

Within the County, our most enduring partners have been the Department of Libraries and Arlington Public Schools (APS). Every year Hearabouts artists are welcomed into our public libraries to perform and exhibit their traditions. The APS Humanities Project , which brings artists into K-12 classrooms has provided opportunities for artists not only to perform, but to learn teaching skills during classroom residencies. We have worked with the National Network for Folk Arts in Education to train teachers to introduce folk arts and artists into their classrooms.

Working with the APS has been the biggest challenge to date. With the formidable demands inherent in K-12 teaching, hosting residencies and tailoring course work to include folk artists proves burdensome to many teachers. Thus, response to training and residency opportunities depend on what other demands are taking precedence during a given school year. Additionally, many of our artists are busy at their regular jobs during normal school hours and may not be able to take leave for a school program. Nevertheless, we value our association with APS and continue working with them to promote our artists and take advantage of partnership opportunities as they arise. The Humanities Project presents an annual showcase, where educators can meet and preview artists’ offerings. A number of our Hearabouts artists consistently enter classrooms through this venue.

Hearabouts participants are recruited by invitation and referral. In 2007, the program worked with individual artists rather than with groups. Our roster included, among others, Nasanbayr Shuree Ayurgina, a pianist from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. We helped her to present a public performance of classical works, some composed by her brother, accompanied by traditional Mongolian throat and lung singers. We also helped her to produce her own press packet and demo CD. We assisted a young Guatemalan artist, Ubaldo Sanchez, by helping him to compile a professional resume with work samples. We paired him with a professional artist mentor to help gain experience and to hone his skills. We arranged for him and his small crew to create traditional Guatemalan alfombras (ornate flower and sawdust carpets traditionally made as part of the Holy Week rituals) at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC and at the National Folk Festival in Richmond, Virginia.

Hearabouts is an outgrowth of an existing capacity building program. It is small and inexpensive because we simply redirect existing resources and take advantage of opportunities as they arise. Our main investment is time and vigilance. The program is flexible and responsive because we own it and can reinvent it annually to suit the needs of our artists and community, and to what we can realistically achieve in a given season considering our other programmatic responsibilities.

Learn More

Arlington Cultural Affairs is happy to share its workshop syllabi on various topics. These materials are specific to the Hearabouts program and its work with particular communities, but are potentially useful as templates for others interested in coordinating arts incubator programs.

Contact             

Mary Briggs

Arlington Cultural Affairs

Photos, top to bottom

The Hearabouts inaugural year included Juventud Boliviana, Halau O’Aulani, El Tayrona Colombian Dance Ensemble and IDEA (Indian Dance Educators Association).

Photo, Mark Charette.

An Ecuadoran ensemble plays at a Hearabouts outdoor festival.

Photo, Chris Williams.

Husnu Aydogdu demonstrates traditional Turkish instruments and music.

Photo, Mark Charette.

Ublado Sanchez directs the creation of a traditional Guatemalan alfombra for Holy Week at Saint Anthony’s Church in Falls Church, Virginia .

Photo courtesy of Ublado Sanchez.

Photos courtesy of Arlington Arts Council.

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