Following up from our session at noon: Making of Adams Morgan, Adams Morgan Day is proud to celebrate the neighborhood’s cultural roots and their relevance for today’s community leaders. Engage with us in a community-led discussion facilitated by cultural historian Jose Centeno-Melendez to learn more about how Black and brown millennial artists and movement builders are cultivating dynamic spaces to engage with Latinx-based experiences in the city. This conversation will explore cultural workers’ ties to the Adams Morgan area and the significance behind their work as artists, DJ’s, documentarians, neighborhood historians, and community advocates. Join us as we center their voices and learn more about what it takes to keep making a neighborhood beat.
Featured Community Leaders:
Manuel Mendez, founder and president of the DC Afro Latino Caucus
Kristy la rAt, Radio CPR
Veronica Melendez, visual artist and co-founder of La Horchata Zine
In our nation’s capital city where federal politics seem to rule the day, local level political engagement and activism can be relegated to the middle of the to-do list. Our vibrant and diverse neighborhoods run on people power, to give power to our people. This Adams Morgan Day, join our community discussion to learn more from your representatives about our Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANC) and community associations on their role, contributions, and what you can do to become more involved.
This session will be moderated by A.Tianna Scozzaro, former ANC Commissioner, in conversation with:
Ted Guthrie, ANC Commissioner
Nick Roland, President of the Reed-Cooke Neighborhood Association
John Zottoli, ANC Commissioner
Peter Wood, a candidate for ANC 1C03 commissioner in Adams Morgan and an active member of ONE DC the Sunrise Movement, organizations working for racial, economic, and environmental equity in the District of Columbia. Peter is also a hospice volunteer with Capital Caring Health.
Throughout the day on September the 13th the collaborative of muralists — Frida Larios, Musah Swallah and Etai Rogers-Fett — will create a masterpiece with local youth at Marie Reed Elementary. We’ll have an opportunity to discuss and learn from them, in addition to designer and artist Ragda Noah who recently completed the George Floyd temporarily-installed mural on 18th St, about their art, process, engagement with communities, and using their heritage and iconographies in art as tools for activism in advocating for diversity and social justice. Connect with them to hear their stories and ask your own questions!
The collaborative recently created the mural at El Tamarindo K’AL Raise Up nearby at 1785 Florida Ave. NW—painted as a tribute and host of a vigil to Vanessa Guillen. Checkout a livestream feed from their experience creating at El Tamarindo.
As we celebrate Adams Morgan Day this year, we’ll be hosting a special discussion of Punk the Capital, a film about the birth of D.C. punk. The centerpiece of the documentary is the original Madams Organ (not to be confused with the current establishment of the same name), where D.C. punk first took root in the city and where legendary bands such as Bad Brains got their foothold. Filmmakers Paul Bishow and James June Schneider will discuss their film with Joe Lapan (Songbyrd) and present clips from the movie which is scheduled to be released on streaming platforms this winter.
See what you’re in for by viewing the film trailer here:
This Adams Morgan Day, join us as we feature Hola Cultura and their partnership with Mary’s Center to share information and insights from their new initiative: DC Latino Community Hope: Improving information, Access and Care in COVID Times. The one-hour virtual session will introduce and share details on this project with community members and provide an opportunity to engage with an expert to get questions answered. The session will feature Hola Cultura’s Chief Operating Officer, Miriam Ostria, in conversation with Ms. Katie Saavedra, Administrative Medical Director at the Adams Morgan Health Clinic, Mary’s Center who will discuss important information relevant to the pandemic.
Ever wonder what the original Adams Morgan was like, before gentrification? When 18th St. wasn’t filled with bars, and Madams Organ was an arts collective, and a place for punk rock bands to play. Who lived here, and how did the residents organize against changes, and when did gentrification start? Now’s your chance to find out from community members who have been here for it all. Join four long-time residents in a live, informal discussion about what it was like living in Adams Morgan in the 1970s and 1980s.
Eddie Becker, well-known neighborhood videographer, was here doing video at the time of the May Day Mass Arrests in 1971.
Casilda Luna, immigrated to Adams Morgan from the Dominican Republic in the 1960s and became an ardent neighborhood social worker, activist and community organizer.
Olivia Cadaval, originally from Mexico, moved here after college in the 1970s to work for the Smithsonian, learning about the neighborhood and cultures, including the Latin Festival of the 1970s and 80s (which she wrote a book about!).
Nancy Shia, neighborhood photographer and activist who came to live in Adams Morgan in 1975, will serve as the moderator for this discussion, followed by an opportunity to engage yourself and ask questions to these Adams Morgan icons.
Adams Morgan has long been an important anchor for DC’s eclectic music scene. This year, in addition to seeing live performances, you can also join a virtual community conversation on the topic of local music vitality. Curator and ethnomusicologist Mark Puryear moderates a conversation with venue owners, documentarians, and producers about the history and contemporary challenges of sustaining the neighborhood as a prime site of music-making.
This program is produced with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Real-time captioning will be provided.
The Adams Morgan neighborhood has long been an important anchor for Washington, D.C.’s eclectic music scene. For this…
