Citified

The arts are an important part of community life. Artists help shape our ideas of who we are, showing us the world and ourselves through a creative lens. In D.C.'s Far Southeast neighborhoods, residents engage in a diverse range of arts and cultural activities. Many community organizations such as schools, churches, libraries, and theaters provide venues for creative and cultural expressions. These organizations have always been at the center of community life. They often play an important role in articulating the demands and concerns of local residents, and they enrich daily life by providing spaces for everything from music and dance performances to skits, plays, and poetry slams to art exhibitions and workshops.

Promoting local artists of all ages, these organizations enable people to network, share traditions, and learn new skills and techniques. For instance, neighbors gather for roller-skating performances in Anacostia Park. They share music and liturgical dance in the area's churches. They participate in youth art and theater at the Anacostia Neighborhood Library. They practice the formal precision of ballet and modern dance at THEARC (Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus). Individual artists are central to the creative energy of these local spaces. People like Melvin Deal, who teaches the fundamentals of African dance to children and seniors at the African Heritage Center, and Baba C, who enchants audiences of all ages with his folktales and stories, foster learning between generations and contribute to building healthy communities through art and tradition.

Outside of these formal arts settings, creative people are at work throughout the community. They demonstrate their artistic mastery and connect this to their communities in barbershops, tattoo parlors, beauty salons, and even at home—in kitchens, basement studios, and backyard or garage workshops.

Citified: Arts and Creativity East of the Anacostia River is produced in collaboration with the Anacostia Community Museum.

The East of the River Boys and Girls Steelband teaches youth from nine to eighteen years of age to play the steel pan, a percussion instrument from Trinidad and Tobago. Aside from providing musical instruction, the organization offers tutoring, mentoring programs, and life skills training.

Photo by Leigh H. Mosley, courtesy of Anacostia Community Museum

Charles “Coco” Bayron creates a tattoo for “Q” Monts at Nu Flava Ink on Martin Luther King Avenue SE. Because of the quality of his artwork, his willingness to educate his customers, as well as his hosting of events like free community picnics, Bayron is one of the most popular tattoo artists in the area.

Photo by Susana Raab, courtesy of Anacostia Community Museum

Nicky Kibben works on a client in My 3 Brothers Unisex Shop. Beauty and barber shops are places where a great deal of creativity is at work. Often, these shops also serve as informal community centers, providing breaking news, useful information, and places to socialize.

Photo by Susana Raab, courtesy of Anacostia Community Museum

Drummers with African Heritage Dancers and Drummers perform during Kwanzaa in 2011.

Photo by Susana Raab, courtesy of Anacostia Community Museum

Members of Alive In Christ Dancing With A Purpose (DWAP) practice liturgical dance as their form of worship. This group of creative and spiritual dancers, led by Pastor Lois Void, formed an outreach ministry to share their faith through a ministry of song, dance, and spoken word. DWAP teaches liturgical dance to children as young as two years of age and to adults in their seventies.

Photo by Susana Raab, courtesy of Anacostia Community Museum

Artist Imaniah Shinar performs during a welcoming ceremony at the Anacostia Community Museum.

Photo by Susana Raab, courtesy of Anacostia Community Museum

Melvin Deal performs during a Kwanzaa celebration at the Anacostia Community Museum. Considered by many as D.C.'s Father of African Heritage, Melvin performed the first public Kwanzaa celebration in the District of Columbia in 1968.

Photo by Susana Raab, courtesy of Anacostia Community Museum

Griot and master storyteller Baba-C uses his call-and-response style to engage audiences of all ages. As he likes to say, “You will have a good time; but if you're not careful, you might learn something.” Photo by Susana Raab, courtesy of Anacostia Community Museum