Munit Mesfin Free Outdoor Concert

Saturday, July 11 at 4 pm 

Corner of Carroll Avenue and Central Avenue 

Munit Mesfin is an Ethiopian-American singer-songwriter who loves sharing Ethio-soul in musical sets that dip into new and old genres. She loves to get the audience singing along in English and Amharic. She will perform with Argentine guitarist and composer Cristian Perez in the Roadside Attractions concert series co-sponsored by Viaduct arts salon and the City’s Takoma Park Arts series.

Over the past decade, Munit performed in a duet based in Ethiopia that toured around the world, reshaping the contemporary Ethiopian music scene with a pop sensibility. Since returning to the United States, she has performed with various groups that re-imagine jazz, reggae, funk and soul.

Audience members should wear masks and practice social distancing during the concert in a driveway at the corner of Carroll Avenue and Central Avenue. Traffic will be blocked on the street and some chairs will be available, but people also can bring their own lawn chairs. Please join us and hear some live music!

Roadside Attractions Concert with Sarah Hughes 

Saturday, June 13 at 4 pm 

Driveway at corner of Carroll Avenue and Central Avenue 

Multi-instrumentalist Sarah Hughes will play a free concert at 4 pm on June 13 in the Roadside Attractions driveway music series co-sponsored by the Viaduct arts salon and the City’s Takoma Park Arts cultural series.

Sarah is an improvisational musician and a prominent fixture in the D.C.-Baltimore experimental scene. Playing saxophone, clarinet, and flute, she has performed in numerous musical contexts, including jazz ensembles, contemporary music ensembles, swing bands, blues jams, folk groups, rap and hip-hop troupes, and indie music collectives. In 2015, she toured Sweden and performed in the country’s first Women in Jazz festival. She performs regularly at Rhizome in Takoma Park and other venues in the area. You can hear some of her music on her website.

Musicians receive an honorarium from Takoma Park Arts to support their livelihoods. Please join us for this free concert where Sarah also is seeking donations for An End to Ignorance, which provides food for vulnerable populations in Baltimore.

Please wear masks and maintain social distancing to keep everyone safe. You can learn more about all of the events in the Takoma Park Arts series at takomaparkmd.gov/arts where you also can sign up for our weekly e-newsletter. Let’s celebrate the return of live music to Takoma Park!

It’s tough for all of us going stir crazy at home so the Takoma Park Arts cultural series has gone online! You can watch dozens of our former events on our Youtube channel, including concerts, theater and dance performances, art exhibitions, poetry readings, lectures, and more.

We’re all in this together so let’s stay connected through the arts, which are more important now than ever. City staff are organizing new online events, including a Vintage Movie Night film screening featuring propaganda cartoons and a second film screening that is in the works. We also are planning more online events so stay tuned!

You can keep up with all of our cultural activities in our weekly Takoma Park Arts e-newsletter, and you can sign up here.

Online Vintage Movie Night: Propaganda Cartoons!

Vintage Movie Night host Richard Hall has organized a new online film screening featuring entertaining propaganda cartoons filmed over the past century with political, social, or commercial messages. Dating from silent World War I films through World War II and the Cold War, cartoons have been used as propaganda tools to mold public opinion, sometimes in subtle or more blatant ways.

Vintage Movie Night, which features Hall’s curated collection of short vintage films on different topics, is part of the City of Takoma Park’s Takoma Park Arts cultural series. This screening was planned before the coronavirus outbreak and was scheduled to be shown on April 9 at the Takoma Park Community Center. We moved it online so you can kick back at home, pop some popcorn, and enjoy the cartoons!

You also can go to artsevents.takomaparkmd.gov to find videos of many past Takoma Park Arts events, including concerts, theater, poetry readings, art exhibitions, and more. Please sign up for our weekly e-newsletter for updates about when future events will be rescheduled. Stay safe and healthy. We’re all in this together.

All upcoming Takoma Park Arts events at the Takoma Park Community Center have been postponed to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but you can watch many of our past events online now! Please use this Youtube link to watch some of our concerts, theater performances, poetry readings, lectures, film screenings, art exhibitions, and more. You can take the arts home with you and share the link with your family and friends to help stave off cabin fever.

You also can sign up for our weekly Takoma Park Arts e-newsletter for updates about the rescheduling of future performances. Stay safe and healthy. We’re all in this together.

Mr. Jon Children’s Music Concert

Saturday, Feb. 22 at 1 pm

Takoma Park Community Center Auditorium

7500 Maple Ave., Takoma Park, MD 

Mr. Jon performs energetic music for the entire family that is all about fun, dancing, and laughter! He has won a Parents’ Choice Award for his music and attracted loyal audiences across the D.C. area. The concert is free with a $10 suggested donation for adults and $5 for kids. No tickets or reservations are required.

Singer-songwriter Jon Lewis has released three albums that have become top sellers on cdbaby.com. Sometimes playing solo or in a group, he plays more than 100 shows a year for kids across the country. To hear some of his music, go to mrjonmusic.com.

This concert was organized by the City of Takoma Park’s Takoma Park Arts cultural series. For more info about all of our upcoming events, sign up for our weekly e-newsletter. 

Overlooked Films from the Civil Rights Movement

Free Film Screening

Thursday, Feb. 13 at 7:30 pm 

Takoma Park Community Center Auditorium

7500 Maple Avenue, Takoma Park, Md. 

The civil rights movement is a long ongoing struggle with a fascinating history and some neglected stories. Please join us for a free screening of vintage films that shed light on the heroic pursuit of social justice and racial equality. Local filmmaker and film historian Richard Hall will lead this screening of three short documentaries in one of our Takoma Park Arts events celebrating Black History Month.

Filmed in 1963 by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, We’ll Never Turn Back features interviews with Fanny Lou Hamer, a 20 year-old Julian Bond, and black farmers in Mississippi who were harassed when they tried to register to vote.

A Time for Freedom documents the 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom where Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks spoke at the Lincoln Memorial, six years before King’s famous “I have a dream” speech. In 1977, the U.S. government produced The Time Has Come, narrated by actor James Earl Jones, featuring interviews with prominent black elected officials, including a young John Lewis.

The Takoma Park Arts cultural series organizes free concerts, theater, poetry readings, art exhibitions, and more. To learn more about all of our upcoming events, please sign up for our weekly e-newsletter at https://takomaparkmd.gov/initiatives/arts-and-humanities/arts-newsletter-sign-up/

Image: Still from We’ll Never Turn Back