Arlington's Future Cultural Center to Host Dark Star Park Festival Activities
Release Date: Tuesday, July 21st 2009
Rosslyn, VA – The Dark Star Park Festival on August 1 will make extensive use of the future Cultural Center in Arlington. It will be the first major event in the space since the County Board voted on July 14 to turn the former Newseum space into a Cultural Center. The space at 1101 Wilson Boulevard will highlight free activities that celebrate art and space, suitable for the whole family.
The events at the future Cultural Center will be part of the Rosslyn BID’s Dark Star Park Festival, celebrating 25 years of public art in Rosslyn – an out-of-this-world experience. The Festival will be held from 8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. on August 1.
Festival co-sponsor NASA will show two movies in the Cultural Center’s Dome Theater, including a new release, “3D Sun”, that will give viewers a three-dimensional look at the Sun – complete with 3-D glasses.
Arlington Public Schools (APS), another festival co-sponsor, will also utilize the Dome Theater to offer free “Star Talks” by APS Planetarium Director Jonathan Harmon, and to present “Dark Star Adventure”, an animated futuristic movie about a young girl who must escape a planet. APS will also use the space to present a 400-piece art show by elementary school students. Their art is inspired by Dark Star Park, the public art piece being celebrated on its 25th anniversary on August 1.
Monday Properties, another festival co-sponsor, is supporting the event by donating use of the adjacent Freedom Park beginning at 10:00 am where festival goers can have fun in a NASA kids activity area, rock out with the bands Rocknoceros and the Grandsons, explore science through Synetic Theater’s educational performances, and buy lunch from AllSpice Café and Catering, one of Rosslyn’s newest restaurants.
Monday Properties is also donating free parking for the day in the garage at 1101 Wilson Boulevard.
At 8:30 a.m. participants will gather at 1655 N. Ft. Myer Drive, where Dark Star Park is located, for the once-a-year shadow alignment. At 9:32 a.m. every August 1, the sculpture’s shadow aligns perfectly with the shadow images on the ground.
In honor of the sculpture’s shape, donut holes and cereal straws will be given away before the alignment. The sculptor of Dark Star Park, Nancy Holt, will fly in from New Mexico for the celebration, and will participate in the alignment program, as well as a panel discussion about the sculpture at the nearby Boeing Conference Center, where a movie, “The making of Dark Star Park” will also be shown.
Other festival sponsors include Arlington Cultural Affairs, NewsChannel 8, Gables 12 Twenty-One, and Chevy Chase Bank.
The Rosslyn Outdoor Film Festival is celebrating Dark Star Park by holding a free showing of E.T. on Friday, July 31 at Gateway Park.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Monique O'Grady
mogrady@rosslynva.org
(703) 522-6628 ext.14
Communications Director