City Offices and Facilities will be closed on Thursday, July 4, 2024, in observance of the Independence Day holiday.
Takoma Park Elections Will Take Place on Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Applications are being sought for vendors for the 2019 Takoma Park Holiday Art Sale that will be held on Dec. 7 at the Takoma Park Community Center. Only original, handmade work made by vendors are eligible for this juried sale. Applicants don’t need to be city residents, and there is no fee to apply. Accepted vendors will be charged a $25 vendor fee. The deadline is Oct. 6, and the online application form is available at https://bit.ly/33CpFVs.
Image: Pottery by 2018 vendor Tanya Renne
Thanks to all of the piano players (and one fiddler) who performed yesterday at the grand opening concert for Takoma Park’s new public piano! We had a great turnout at the downtown gazebo.
WDVM 25 also aired a great story about the concert where you can hear some of the music and learn some background about the donated piano’s journey to the gazebo. The piano, which was painted by local artist Zahava Frank, will be in the gazebo until December where anyone can play it from 9 am to 9 pm daily.
The public piano is one of the projects organized by the City of Takoma Park’s Takoma Park Arts cultural series. We also host many events at the Takoma Park Community Center, including art exhibitions, concerts, film screenings, theater, poetry readings and more. All of the events are free, and you can learn more about them and sign up for our weekly e-newsletter at www.takomaparkmd.gov/arts.
The City’s new public piano has been painted by local artist Zahava Frank and is ready for a free opening concert this Sunday at 11 am at the downtown gazebo at 7035 Carroll Avenue. Anyone from beginner to expert pianists can play the piano for a friendly crowd. Pianists don’t need to be city residents or register beforehand. Just show up and share your musical talents with all of us. We hope to see you there!
The public piano is part of the City’s Takoma Park Arts cultural series which organizes public art and music projects along with free events at the Takoma Park Community Center, including concerts, theater, poetry readings, film screenings, art exhibitions, and more! Please visit the City website to learn more about our upcoming events and to sign up for our weekly e-newsletter.
The Takoma Park Arts cultural series is seeking submissions from poets who are interested in reading their original work in the Third Thursday Poetry Reading series. Applicants don’t have to be city residents, and there is no fee to apply. Please use this link to apply by the Sept. 3 deadline.
We are seeking submissions in three categories:
Poetry in the Public Sphere (politics, race, social justice, etc.)
Our Environment and Endangered Planet (nature, environmental issues, etc.)
Open Category (poetry on any subject)
There is more info about the Third Thursday series on the City’s website. You also can sign up for our weekly e-newsletter for info about all of our upcoming events in the Takoma Park Arts series.
The Bird Calls Phone has grown some feathers! Artist David Schulman (in the photo) transformed the former public pay phone to play bird calls from local birds in a public art project commissioned by the City of Takoma Park. By pushing the phone buttons, you also hear facts about local bird species, and it’s free! No quarters required.
To highlight the awesomeness of the phone, we added some new banners with giant red feathers. Go check it out at 8000 Flower Avenue at the corner of Erie Avenue. Tweet tweet!
The Takoma Park Arts cultural series is seeking an artist or artist team to paint a public piano that will be installed in the gazebo in downtown Takoma Park this summer. The theme is up to the artist but could include some aspect of diversity, community spirit, etc. The application deadline is July 28, and payment for the project is $500. Please click on this link for more details and share the news with your artist friends!
The City’s popular We Are Takoma arts and culture series has a new name and a new look!
The series has been renamed Takoma Park Arts to more accurately reflect the focus of the series which features many free events at the Takoma Park Community Center, including concerts, plays, art exhibitions, film screenings, poetry readings, lectures, and more. A dynamic new logo will be featured in promotions and publications about the series.
“We hope more people from Takoma Park and the surrounding area will learn about our events in the Takoma Park Arts series and experience the broad array of talent in the local creative community,” said Takoma Park Arts Coordinator Brendan Smith.
The City issues calls for proposals from performers, poets, lecturers, and artists each year to stage events at the Takoma Park Community Center at 7500 Maple Avenue. The center has a state-of-the-art auditorium where performances are held and are also recorded and shared on the City’s Facebook page, Youtube, and the City TV channel. Art opening receptions are held bimonthly with art displayed in several galleries throughout the Community Center.
Christoph Michaud, a graphic designer who serves on the Takoma Park Arts and Humanities Commission, created the new Takoma Park Arts logo, which features the same blue and yellow colors in the City logo.
Please go to www.takomaparkmd.gov/arts to learn more about our upcoming events and sign up for our Takoma Park Arts weekly e-newsletter.
Our annual open poetry reading gives local poets a chance to read their work to a friendly audience. Poets don’t need to be city residents or register beforehand. Just show up and read your poems at 7:30 pm this Thursday at the Takoma Park Community Center at 7500 Maple Avenue. We hope to see you there!
Two electric vehicle charging stations are sporting new designs with vinyl wraps commissioned by the City of Takoma Park. In the Takoma Park Community Center parking lot, a flock of hummingbirds have gathered in a colorful design by graphic designer Jay Shogo. The project is part of the City’s public art programs designed to get art into the streets where everyone can enjoy it.
The downtown charging station has turned green with windmills and electric cars to symbolize the importance of addressing climate change. Located on Carroll Avenue near the Laurel Avenue intersection, the wrap was designed by graphic designer Cindy Herrera. Go check them out and charge up!
In a celebration of spring and all of Earth’s creation, nine artists will explore the grace and beauty of flowers, plants, and nature in Petals and Stems, a new group exhibition at the Takoma Park Community Center with an opening reception on May 16 at 7 pm.
The diverse work includes close-up photos of plants by Paige Billin-Frye, finely stitched quilts by Elaine Katz, and hand-carved gourds by Meipo Martin. Janel Leppin’s large yarn weavings will be suspended from the atrium ceiling in a unique installation.
Five artists from the Botanical Art Society of the National Capital Region also will share lifelike paintings and sketches of flowers and plants, including Judy Brown, Heidemarie Copiz, Joan Maps Ducore, Marsha Ogden, and Barbara Sweeney.
After being mentored by master carvers, Meipo carves and stains gourds with fluid designs that merge Eastern and Western artistic traditions. Leppin’s weavings incorporate cherished clothing, including her wedding veil and her grandmother’s red dress, evoking the persistence of memory and the power of nostalgia.
Billin-Frye has traveled across the country and into her own backyard to find seed pods and plants to create soft-hued images that revel in nature’s innate architecture. Katz is an art teacher whose quilts feature three-dimensional elements, and the Botanical Art Society artists merge art and science in their realistic depictions of various plant species.
Please join us this Thursday to see the art and meet the artists!
The Takoma Park Community Center is located at 7500 Maple Avenue. For more info, contact Arts Coordinator Brendan Smith at brendans@takomaparkmd.gov.
