About this Event
DIY Arts Administration: Skate Parks, Deskwork, and the Daytona 500
A panel conversation on the good, the bad, the ugly - and lovely - of tackling arts administration while keeping your creative practice alive - plus networking with fellow DMV creatives!
Most artists don’t set out to become administrators, but when a project needs a permit, a budget, a venue, a partner, an insurance certificate, someone has to handle it. When there is a vision, artists will do what it takes to make it happen - and in that moment, they become arts administrators.
For November’s DMV Creative Chats, we’ve brought together three practitioners who have each organized, activated, and administrated. One stepped into it for a single event, one built it into a business, and one made it a career. All three kept a creative practice alive alongside it.
Together, they can speak to what engaging in the admin of it all actually looks like - from turning forgotten swimming pools into iconic skate spots and building an underground skate/art/music space, to a mosaic artist’s first ground-up public event, to a violinist who has played everywhere from concert halls to race tracks, ran her own touring chamber group for eight years, and genuinely enjoys the systems side of the work.
- Kit Satoh - Violinist and Cultural Art Specialist at M-NCPPC; spent eight years running the chamber music nonprofit Bow & Hammer in Chicago, from local concert idea to international touring; still freelances and is a go-to sounding board for musicians running their own groups.
- Anthony Smallwood - Skateboarder, photographer, and filmmaker; founder of Fight Club DC, an underground skate/art/music space; at the vanguard of the DMV’s pool-skating scene.
- Valerie Therbridge - Mosaic artist working in sculpture, installation, and murals, with projects across mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, India, and the US; lead organizer of the Link Wray skate event.
Join us for the conversation and stick around after the panel for open networking with fellow DMV creatives.
The evening runs from 6:00–8:00 pm, with doors opening at 6:00 for refreshments and casual conversation. The panel kicks off at 6:30, followed by audience Q&A and open networking.
We’re gathering at Brentwood Art Exchange in Brentwood, MD, returning to the venue that hosted the series back in May. This event is organized in partnership with Prince George’s County Department of Parks and Recreation, continuing DMV Creative Chats’ move from place to place each month, carried forward by the partners and creative spaces that make each one possible.
This event is presented in partnership with Brentwood Art Exchange, Southwest BID, Prince George’s County Department of Parks and Recreation, and Golob Art.
ABOUT THE SERIES
DMV Creative Chats is an approachable, region-wide monthly series of arts sector discussions and connection-points for DMV creative professionals. Each event brings together artists, cultural leaders, creative sector professionals, and the public for engaging conversation about the creative sector - followed by relaxed networking and community-building with light refreshments.
The combination of inquisitive panel conversations with casual socializing is designed to foster connections between creative professionals, advance the regional arts policy dialogue, and support the DMV cultural economy.
We're just getting started, and we want this series to reflect and serve the community it's built for. If you'd like to suggest a future topic, be considered as a panelist, or find out how to get more involved - we'd love to hear from you.
Join the mailing list: Sign up here
Follow along: @DMVCreativeChats on Instagram
Schedule
6:00 pm — Doors open, refreshments, casual chat
6:30 pm — Panel conversation
7:30 pm — Networking + debrief
8:00 pm — Wrap up
Event venue & nearby stays
Brentwood Arts Exchange, 3901 Rhode Island Avenue, Brentwood, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.