Suburban Museum: BlackRock Center for the Arts

I was visiting my family in suburban Maryland when I came across the BlackRock Center for the Arts. Fascinating...well, for me.

I guess there've been spaces like these for a long time, but there's something about moving a "Center for the Arts" into a commercial center like this that stuck with me. Why? Because "art centers" are often focused on alterity and suburban commercial centers are generally focused on homogeneity.

The Suburban Museum. "In the early 1990s, a group of Germantown, Maryland residents began to promote the concept of an arts center that would be located within their own community. Their idea became a rallying point for Germantown's active civic leadership. Within a year, the Germantown Cultural Arts Center, Inc. (d/b/a BlackRock Center for the Arts) was founded as a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) organization to develop, own and manage BlackRock." (For more read here.)

Out here you got your Blackhawk Museum. It's cars. And there are all kinds of aviation museums -- here, here and here (Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum: Home to the Spruce Goose!), because they're near the airports mainly, I guess.

Much to consider here...really, it's just the town square...and no one is calling it a "museum." Not sure where I am going with this. I'm just interested that's all.

Comments

BREAKING NEWS: USC to Absorb HUC in LA?

This just in from "The God Blog." A source told Jewish Journal editor-in-chief Rob Eshman that the University of Southern California and Hebrew Union College-Jewish institute of Religion, which already share some faculty and facilities, are working on a deal to fold the L.A. campus into USC as a Jewish studies program. “Its a win win,“ the source said. “HUC gets a big chunk of money for what it owns—about a block of prime real estate by the USC campus—and USC gets to solidify a Jewish studies and outreach program that it has been building for some time now.“ Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles has been having big problems -- a consolidation of resources may present a novel and impactful solution. VERY INTERESTING.

Why Go to A Conference Anyways?

@lidja @lyndakelly61 @futureofmuseums @creativemerc @museum_flavor pLz look http://tinyurl.com/qxlja4 &here http://bit.ly/q1mhV assoc./conf. grpthink @RichardMcCoy @DanielCull very import.

A Year-end Letter Update from James and Family

Dear Friends and Family, On the brink of the new year on December 31, 2019 we stood at the foot of Kehinde Wiley's brand new monumental equestrian sculpture in downtown Richmond at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. There were a bunch of families gathered around taking pictures together. Emblematic of this entire year and entitled “ Rumors of War ,” the monument depicts an unarmed Black man in heroic pose atop a horse. The man’s sneakers are in the stirrups, looking back over their shoulder like Napoleon as they ride forward up a ridge . It was a strange harbinger of the year that was, and how it’s going. Kamala Harris will be named our vice president in a few weeks. In between, the apocalyptic has been commonplace; I mean, what a year. Emil started high school this fall. Graduation this past spring from Mark Day School was likely the year’s highlight. Karen is still at Mark Day. This fall they've been doing hybrid learning. It’s the first time Karen and Emil have not been goi

loveitallabove

Search This Blog