 30th Annual Feel the Heritage Festival
Sat, Feb 24 | 12-5p | Charles Drew Community Center | Green Valley
The Feel the Heritage Festival welcomes hundreds each year to learn about the Arlington’s historically African-American neighborhoods while enjoying live entertainment, delicious food and dozens of vendors. The festival will celebrate this year's theme for National Black History Month: "African Americans and the Arts".
The Feel the Heritage Festival welcomes dozens of artisan and community vendors to the event each year. The festival programming line-up includes live music, dance, spoken word and more, including 2023 Lubber Run performer Crush Funk Brass! Plus make sure to stop by the Hall of History, where you will learn about Arlington's rich African American history from local churches and community groups. More
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Explore and Experience Arlington’s African American Heritage
The Arlington Convention and Visitors Service has brought together nearly 20 community and county partners to catalog and promote the full array of visitor sights and experiences that showcase Arlington’s African American heritage. The project seeks to inspire exploration, understanding and celebration of the invaluable contributions of Black culture and life in Arlington. Check out several sightseeing highlights grouped by proximity across various neighborhoods, including public art, museums, and local Black-owned businesses. More
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NVLAA Workshops:
Promotional Partnerships: Creative Ways to Attract New Audiences
Thurs, Mar 7 | 12-1:30pm | online via Zoom
The marketing leaders of Alexandria’s Office of the Arts, Arlington Cultural Affairs, and ArtsFairfax will highlight unique promotional partnerships that widened the exposure of an arts activity through shared resources. They will guide you through a series of interactive exercises to strengthen your ability to tell your story, identify a prospective partner, and grow your project’s reach. More
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 Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington
Opening Reception & Artist Talk: Solace and Sisterhood
Thurs, Feb 22 | 5-8p | MoCA Arlington | Virginia Square
Join Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington to for an opening reception and artist talk celebrating Solace and Sisterhood (on view Feb 22-May 26). Curated by guest curator Dr. Lauren Davidson, Solace and Sisterhood brings together the work of three artists of African descent who are friends and “sisters”: Lavett Ballard, Amber Robles-Gordon, and Evita Tezeno. Through their artwork, viewers are given an intimate look into their experiences and their sisterhood, which has developed over several years. More
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Avant Bard: Coriolanus
Feb 29-Mar 23 | Gunston Theatre 2 | Long Branch Creek
A co-production with Longacre Lea, this adaptation of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus is directed by Longacre Lea Managing Director Séamus Miller and is inspired by video games, virtual reality, and our cultural embrace of ultra-violence. The production reframes our understanding of the protagonist through a trauma-informed lens. The audience will be directly involved and implicated in the conditioning of a man who is bred into, even celebrated for, antisocial brutality—and then punished for his learned inability to ‘play nice.’ Longacre Lea brings its signature video presence to the co-production. More
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Encore Stage & Studio:
Adventures of the Swiss Family Robinson
Mar 1-10 | Thomas Jefferson Community Theatre | Arlington Heights
Join for a tale of suspense and courage in Encore's world premiere production of Adventures of the Swiss Family Robinson! Adapted from the classic book, this story follows the Robinson family who are shipwrecked on an uncharted tropical island. Full of optimism, the family sets out to explore the island and learn to live on it, joined by ship-wrecked talking-animals, a lot of bananas, and possibly pirates! More
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 Celebrate Black History Month with Arlington Public Library
Celebrate Black culture, history and excellence with an array of inspiring February events. More
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Feb 22-29, Black History Book Clubs: Celebrate Black authors in APL's book clubs and discuss titles including the YA romance "The Davenports" set in 1910 Chicago and the Black Lives Matter-inspired coming-of-age story "The Hate U Give."
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Feb 23, Afternoon Tea and a Movie: "Queen of Katwe": Enjoy afternoon tea and light treats at a screening of Disney's "Queen of Katwe," inspired by the life of Phiona Mutesi—one of the first titled female players in Ugandan chess history.
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Feb 24, Documentary Screening: "CURRENT: A Descendant's Journey for Truth": The documentary "CURRENT: A Descendant's Journey for Truth" chronicles enslavement and resistance through stories and insights collected in Virginia, including from Library Director Diane Kresh.
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Feb 24, Kids' Art: Create a Masterpiece!: Join for a fun, hands-on art project inspired by the work of African American artist Lois Mailou Jones.
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Feb 26: Documentary Screening and Panel Discussion: "Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin": Join for an abbreviated screening of "Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin" followed by a panel discussion featuring Rustin's life partner Walter Naegle and co-director Bennett Singer, in conversation with longtime Arlington residents. Moderated by Julius D. "J.D." Spain, Sr., Community Leader.
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Feb 28, DIY Mini Zines: Come make mini magazine or "zines" as we kick-off this year's Arlington Reads which will celebrate the work of James Baldwin. Learn how James Baldwin got his start writing for his high school magazine and then have some fun making your own zine.
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Feb 29, Community Read: "The Fire Next Time": Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of noted scholar and author James Baldwin. In numerous essays, novels, plays and public speeches, the eloquent voice of James Baldwin spoke of the pain and struggle of Black Americans and the saving power of brotherhood. Join the Library in reading one of Baldwin's best-known works during the month of February - "The Fire Next Time." Hear from Arlington teen poet Kennedy Watkin to start off the program, then join a community discussion of this pivotal work with the help of George Mason University Distinguished Professor Keith Clark.
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Celebrate The Grandfather of Black Basketball by Edwin B. Henderson II
Thurs, Feb 29 | 7p | One More Page Books |
The first contemporary biography of the man credited with introducing basketball to African Americans on a wide-scale, organized basis. In The Grandfather of Black Basketball: The Life and Times of Dr. E. B. Henderson, Edwin Bancroft Henderson II—Dr. Henderson’s grandson—provides unprecedented detail and fascinating insight into this influential figure in Black history. More
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Visual Voices with Maria Gaspar
Thurs, Feb 22 | 4:45-6:30p | via Zoom
Maria Gaspar is an interdisciplinary artist negotiating the politics of location through installation, sculpture, sound, and performance. Gaspar’s work addresses issues of spatial justice in order to amplify, mobilize, or divert structures of power through individual and collective gestures. In collaboration with George Mason University’s data mapping and art history scholars, Gaspar will continue to realize her goals of abolishing carceral spaces by adding prints of current prisons, jails, and immigrant detention facilities in Virginia to the Disappearance Jails project, which will ultimately be obscured through perforations by exhibition visitors. More
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