Last January, the most incredible thing happened: I received an apology letter from a guy who tried to mug me the previous fall. He wrote the letter on lined notebook paper with a pencil in beautiful script, the kind of script your grandparents were taught in grammar school. Delivered to...

Descriptions of the D.C. art scene used to begin like this: "It's not New York, but..." I don't hear that very often anymore. Lately, it seems like the arts in D.C. are starting to develop a unique personality from the ground up.

Many smart, ambitious, culturally curious D.C.-ers have...

I attended the Transculturel Forum of contemporary art in Haiti a little over a month ago. This program brought artists from around the world (Madagascar, Cameroon, Canada, Guadeloupe, Togo, Benin, France, Dominican Republic) to make art with Haitian artists and students for one week. The Forum culminated with an exhibition...

D.C. has lots of embassies, and lots of embassies host cultural events that showcase arts and culture from their countries. The thing is, whenever I go to any of these events, they are filled with people who are from those respective countries. Don't get me wrong! I love meeting people...

What's the state of visual arts in D.C.? Four years ago, a contemporary art fair called ArtDC took place at the convention center. Fair organizers convinced all the D.C. contemporary art galleries to participate and enticed numerous non-D.C. galleries to exhibit, including many international galleries. The fair seemed well-organized and...

When you think of Washington, D.C., you generally think of politics, bureaucracies, and grand monuments. At least that's what I thought when I first moved to D.C. to be a lobbyist about 10 years ago. After I'd been here a little while, I started feeling a little antsy and boxed...