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Office of Heritage Arts
Chris Williams, Heritage Arts
703-228-1899,
Chris Williams, Heritage Arts
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About the Office of Heritage Arts
The Cultural Affairs Division’s Office of Heritage Arts
serves as the County’s resource point for folk and traditional artists, folklife researchers and community members. It divides its efforts
into three overlapping spheres: Festivals, Concerts & Community Events,
Fieldwork & Documentation and Artist & Community Services.
It offers training programs for developing ensembles and organizations;
assists with community event planning; oversees the Cultural Affairs
Division’s Heritage Arts grant program; produces documents and events that
explore traditional culture in our community; and serves to broaden the
general understanding of tradition within our community.
Staff works with traditional musicians, dancers, artists,
cooks, poets, and craftspeople to produce, promote, document and celebrate
Arlington’s rich cultural diversity.
Ecuadorian children
Festivals, Concerts & Community Events
Each year, Arlingtonians host or participate in a number
of tradition-based festivals, celebrating deeply-rooted values and
expressive forms. The Office of Heritage Arts supports these programs
through the Festivals, Concerts &
Community Events process, a competitive, panel review program
that offers in-kind support, technical assistance, and marketing and public
relations efforts. Event producers are encouraged to apply for assistance
through this program (deadline January 31 each year).
For an up to date listing of Heritage Arts supported
festivals, concerts and community events, see the website
events calendar.
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Folklore and Folklife
are..
Passed down through time...
By families & "extended"
families
In urban neighborhoods,
suburbs & rural areas
In political, social, religious,
ethnic racial & immigrant
communities
In age-specific communities
(seniors, school kids, teens)
By occupational groups and
on the job
In gender-based communities
(boy scouts, boarding
schools) and in communities
bonded by sexual
orientation (gay,lesbian,
transgender)
And in other communities
that coalesce around
self-identifying markers
(VW owners, antique
collectors, alien abductees,
etc.)
... Through non-academic
modes
United House of Prayer Shout Band
you're one of the
"folk" if...
You have a family or an
extended family
You live in, or work in, or
participate actively in a
community (or several
communities)
You eat, drink, dance,sing,
communicate, create or
celebrate
You communicate through
language,artistic expression
or the creation of material
culture using skills learned
outside of the academic
setting
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Fieldwork & Documentation
 The Office of Heritage Arts undertakes fieldwork and
documentation projects that respect and reflect Arlington’s diverse cultural
patchwork. Current projects include the development of a Halls Hill/High
View Park community archive and the
Un/Common Places
census of culturally significant places in Arlington.
In December, 2005, the Cultural Affairs Division released the first album of
music recorded by Arlington's octogenarian Old-Time fiddle legend,
Speedy
Tolliver. It was produced at the Cultural Affairs Division's recording
studio on Four Mile Run Drive, by sound technician Vander Lockett.
Recent publications and media productions include
Up on
the Hill, an oral history of one of Arlington’s historic African
American neighborhoods, From Flower to Goddess, a documentary film on
Cambodian dance traditions, and Speedy, Arlington County’s Master
Musician Roy "Speedy" Tolliver.
Peruvian Dancers
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Artist & Community Services - Hearabouts
Service to traditional artists and performers make up the third arm of
the Office of Heritage Arts’ mission. Working closely with community and
performing group leaders, the program provides technical, programmatic,
marketing and managerial resources and guidance.
The Hearabouts program, a development workshop for performing
artists, provides training for group leaders on subjects ranging from grant
writing and budget building to press releases and contracting. This program
provides the building blocks that groups use to enhance their program,
production and managerial skills. Hearabouts participants
represent the wide range of artistic traditions and communities: from jazz
combos and Indian classical dance to Peruvian and Colombian folkloric dance,
and performing traditions from Hawaii, Turkey and beyond - that are at home
in Arlington. The common thread among them is a deeply felt need to
share long-held, vitally important traditions - the drive to each, preserve
and celebrate the tradition of home.
2005 Hearabouts participants
Chino Terrones Peruvian Dance Ensemble, the
LaMont J. Mitchell & Friends Jazz Ensemble,
Requiebros Spanish Dance
Group, and the Turkish-American Music and Dance Ensemble.
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2005 Hearabouts Participants |
2006 Hearabouts Participants
Sutera Malaysia, Dakshina (Daniel
Phoenix Singh), Los Quetzales Mexican
Dance Ensemble.
2007 Hearabouts Participants
Rick Franklin,
Piedmont Blues guitar player,
Ubaldo Sanchez, Guatamalan Visual Artist, Shuree, Mongolian
Classical pianist.
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- Arlington Sister City Association
The Sister Cities International Story
http://www.arlingtonsistercity.org
 For
more than 40 years, Sister Cities has been one of the most celebrated
international community-building & cultural exchange programs. In
every region of the world, sister cities, counties and states play a
significant role in supporting long-term community partnerships
through reciprocal exchange programs and citizen diplomacy. Sister
Cities partner communities . . .
- Develop municipal relationships between U.S.
cities, counties, and
states and similar jurisdictions in other nations.
- Provide opportunities for city officials and
citizens to experience and explore other
cultures through long-term community building.
- Create an atmosphere in which economic and
community development can be
implemented and strengthened.
- Stimulate environments through which
communities creatively learn, work, and solve problems together
through reciprocal cultural, educational, municipal, business,
professional and technical exchanges and projects.
- Collaborate with organizations in the United States
and other countries that share similar goals.
 The
Arlington Sister City Association (ASCA), is a privately-supported,
501(c)(3) membership organization founded in 1994. With three sister
cities (Aachen, Germany; Reims, France; and Coyoacan, Mexico), the
ASCA promotes a wide array of cultural, educational and recreational
exchanges, including University, High School and Elementary School
student and teacher exchanges; annual bike rides through France and
Germany; and residencies by noted performers and scholars.
Pictured Above: Reims Cathedral
Below:
Aachen Cathedral
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