I grew up in Baltimore, and one of the opinions you are legally mandated to hold as a native of Charm City is that Washington, DC is a snooty, superior, bland, bureaucratic, sleepy little town without edge, without personality, and without flavor. Having lived in DC now for more than a dozen years, I have had ample time to rid myself of my prejudice—well, most of it, anyway—and come to appreciate the city on its own terms. In particular, what I’ve learned to love more than anything about DC is what a terrific place it is in which to make art… for a variety of different reasons.
Chief among them is the dynamic, ongoing encounter with a kind of a stew of different cultures. No city in America, with the exception of New York, is as international and diverse. Yes, that means I can get an authentic bagel for breakfast, Peruvian chicken for lunch, and Korean barbeque for dinner… but what it really means is that in any given day I can encounter an amazingly wide range of ideas: an impossibly diverse assortment of ways of thinking about and living in the world. It is impossible to be intellectually isolated while living here. (Senators from more homogenous states have to huddle together in row houses, speaking to no one else, in order to stay bland… and even then, it doesn’t always work.) One’s prejudices and pre-suppositions about the rest of the world are constantly being challenged… and personally, I consider that a pre-requisite for creativity.
There’s also the matter of the sheer quantity of readily-available art we’re able to consume for inspiration and education, let alone entertainment. The Smithsonian goes without saying. We also have more theater seats for sale in a given year than any other city in America, save for New York, so there’s no shortage of plays one can see. Thanks to the Kennedy Center, we have plenty of opera and ballet and classic music, too. It’s not a particularly literary city, I’ll admit—though I’m told that’s changing—but there’s a great music scene as well, with an immense diversity of styles. We really have an embarrassment of arts riches.
For my money, though, the single greatest benefit to making art in this city is living in the immense shadow of such towering political power, which I believe is essential to the development of a DC-specific artistic and cultural voice, though few of us seem to talk about it in those terms.
The massive, impenetrable United States government looms over everything we do here, from buying bread to strolling along the Potomac to parking the car to just plain earning a living. We make our way in opposition or response—whether we like to admit it or not—to its power. Its skeletons are literally buried in the streets all around us. The sheer white faces of our historic monuments and buildings are the blank slates on which all of our screeds are written and our images projected. No other city offers this: a chance to make art that engages the political soul of our country so directly. If you want to speak truth to power—not everyone does, I realize, but I sure do—this may very well be the best place in America to do it.
I really like how you describe the massive, impenetrable U.S. government…that looms over everything…I too feel the “play” of this…the parody, satire, concern, & need to voice what I think. So hurray for all our spaces (DCAC, The Fridge, Warehouse, etc.) that support our explorations in art. I adore those “on the fringe” as well as the renovated, & newly built places.
Tonite I audition for WSC.
Just finished a show with Dance Performance Group, do a reading for the Albee Festival, then prepare for Fringe’s Fool for All! & a Dance Exchange commissioned work.
It’d be nice to see you again! (Your baby’s photo is such a draw!!)
Annetta
Thanks, Annetta! And thanks for chiming in.
Agree with practically everything you’ve written (you have more faith in the power of Art to “change” things than I do; I’ll stick with Auden: “poetry makes nothing happen”). To this list I would add a ready-made audience of highly intelligent people. The wonk-y, ambitious people that DC tends to attract are not only politically committed, but also highly educated in their fields, and usually come sporting at least one if not two advanced degrees ranging the spectrum of available fields of human endeavor. So: not only diversity of culture, but diversity of knowledge, knowledge that’s usually deep and field-tested. Both a blessing and a curse, perhaps: as writers, artists and performers, we know that we won’t always have to pander, that there’s people out there who will see the connections we’re attempting to make and will “get it”; the flip side is that there’s also people out there who will know more about the stuff we’re momentarily pretending to know about. Keeps us on our toes, to be sure.
Shawn, I have at times felt the same way you and Wystan feel; I am, at the moment, still a few father and thus fresh with a sense of possibility and hope. Ask me again when Porter is a teenager.
You are very much right to note that the audiences we make art for here are typically more thoroughly educated and wonky… though I must be quick to note that, well, that description only covers half of our city, and everyone who lives here deserves to have artists working for them.
In any event, yes indeed, boy howdy, it keeps us on our toes. Or should.
As a DC-area artist I couldn’t agree more. National (even planetary) news happens in my backyard, as it were. It’s easy to observe the destruction or grace that ripple from decisions made here, costing or saving lives by the thousands or even millions some place far away. It’s fascinating to see the bubble the people that wield such power live in, even within the “Beltway Bubble.” Whether designing for theatre, or creating some other visual art piece the elements of that opportunistic power can’t help but be an influence.
Multicultural influence is undeniable, but I wouldn’t paint it (literally) as friendly as you do. Socio-economic stratification is violent and intense here and frequently (but not exclusively) falls on racial and ethnic lines. With few exceptions, it seems elements of culture (culinary, musical, sometimes even religious) are cherry-picked and consumed or assimilated by the predominantly white, predominantly wealthy elite that have the discretionary income to dictate what DC-area culture is through their support.
Something I think you neglected to mention was the availability and access to high-speed and wireless Internet and ever-faster, more-portable computers and technology that is particular to this area. The influence is undeniable: more and more plays (through writers like you and/or designers like me) have multi-media elements, artists can inexpensively test out ideas through YouTube, podcasts or their websites without significant investment, and the ability to quickly and cheaply photograph-research-cut-copy-paste and mix down elements of their work and the wide range of studios available.
Keep up the good work!
You know what? You’re right to call me on having painted a too-pretty picture. Our differences bring us all too often into conflict. It’s sad, but true.
Thanks for weighing in!Â