INTERSECTIONS: A New America Arts Festival

Program Notes

“Each of us is on our own journey. But as we travel, we reach crossroads—the points at which our journeys meet—launching the possibility that we will go in new directions as individuals, as a community, as a society.” Festival Curator, Mary Hall Surface

Welcome to the debut of “INTERSECTIONS: A New America Arts Festival” at The Atlas Performing Arts Center ("the Atlas"). This boundary-breaking festival showcases the power of the arts to cultivate understanding, to unite communities, and to honor the dignity of the human experience, while empowering the individual. INTERSECTIONS offers a rich and varied body of artistic styles. In addition to works of visual art, film screenings, literary readings, dance performances, musical showcases, and dramatic productions, INTERSECTIONS will also provide audiences with the opportunity to engage directly with the artistic process through workshops, discussions and informal performances.

With these unique performances and presentations, INTERSECTIONS not only delights, educates, and entertains, but it also asks us important questions about the America identity: Who is America? What does it mean to be an American? How do we honor those who came before us? Who will America be in the future? INTERSECTIONS Festival addresses these provocative and deeply personal questions through an offering of artistic exploration and discovery that is absolutely exhilarating!

Throughout the festival, you will see works that are ethnically, racially, culturally, and stylistically diverse. So much so, that it is profound to find many common threads amongst the performances. Of course, America is a nation of immigrants. Whether they were forced here through slavery or they came by choice in search of new opportunities and independence, America is nation of people living along artistic and cultural continuums that links them from their own country of ethnic origin to their current home in America. In this Festival, you will learn about Austria, Southeast DC, the ghettos of Philadelphia, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Haiti, Philippines, the Ibo People of West Africa, Asia, and the Middle East through song, dance, spoken word, hip hop, and theater performances.

As the only community-based performing arts center in DC, the Atlas is the perfect venue to host a festival of this magnitude and significance. Located in a historic movie theatre, the Atlas opened its doors in November 2006 and since opening, has helped to revitalize the H Street Corridor, which was devastated by the riots of 1968. Part of its mission is to foster the artistic growth of professional and aspiring performing artists throughout the region. It is home to a diverse group of locally renowned theatre and dance companies, symphony orchestras, choral groups and arts education programs. In fact, several Atlas resident companies, such as the Capital City Symphony, Joy of Motion Dance Center and the Levine School of Music, are a part of the Festival.

Thank you for joining us today! We invite you to stay and see more performances!

Enjoy!
Jacqueline Lawton, Dramaturg