The year 2023 began with robust enrollment in winter classes and programs offered by the Partnership and resident partners in the Park. Participation continued increasing throughout the year at our festivals, exhibitions, performances, concerts, camps, and workshops.
With events like Carousel Day, featuring the Piscataway Nation Singers & Dancers, bringing more than 3,000 people to the Park in a single day, and Washington Folk Festival bringing more than 7,000 visitors for the two-day event, we were thrilled to see many of the Park’s events and programs return to pre-pandemic levels!
After that strong start to the year, a fierce mid-summer storm in July resulted in an unexpected recovery effort that brought unprecedented response from Park supporters. The Partnership initiated a Lift Us Up Campaign to collect funds to stabilize and repair some of our historic structures, and the community rallied to help! We raised over $115,000 in two months and began restoration efforts immediately
We had the Park up and running quickly, and in early fall the 52nd Annual Labor Day Art Show in the historic Spanish Ballroom was enjoyed by over 7,000 visitors for the holiday weekend. Visitors also danced to live music at our Social Dance Showcase that featured many forms of dance. Just weeks later, we presented the second annual Echo Arts Festival, a celebration of visual and performing arts, that was enjoyed by 2,200 people We were proud to partner with the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. We also co-presented our first-ever Art Deco fashion show – Deco Chic.
Those are a just a few of the highlights of 2023, and we thank our members, donors and sponsors, all who keep Glen Echo Park thriving as one of most unique arts and cultural centers in the Washington, DC region Read on for m
Katey Boerner Chief Executive Officer
Martha Morris President, Board of Directors
WHO WE ARE & WHAT WE VALUE
A B O U T T H E G L E N E C H O P A R K
The Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture, Inc manages one of the liveliest visual and performing arts sites in the Washington area. Each year, close to a quarter of a million people come together at Glen Echo Park to renew their creative spirit through classes, festivals, exhibitions, dances, children’s theater, music performances, nature programs, and more. Established by Montgomery County in 2002, the Partnership is a nonprofit organization charged with managing Glen Echo Park’s programs and facilities In collaboration with Montgomery County and the National Park Service, the Partnership works with resident artists and organizations to develop distinctive arts programming; operates the historic Dentzel carousel; presents an extensive social dance program; produces festivals and special events; conducts fundraising and marketing; and manages and maintains all facilities.
Glen Echo Park
MISSION
The Partnership presents vibrant artistic, cultural and educational offerings at Glen Echo Park and promotes the Park as a unique destination for our region's diverse population. We inspire creativity and offer shared artistic experiences in a welcoming historic and natural setting within a National Park.
DIVERSITY * EQUITY * INCLUSION * ACCESS
Our responsibility is to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for all people to enjoy Glen Echo Park. We are dedicated to ensuring that the core values of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) are embraced at the Park and to developing engaging programs that serve diverse audiences We have embarked on the process of crafting our DEIA initiatives and we look forward to sharing our progress on our website.
VISION
Glen Echo Park fosters creativity and community well-being through the power of the arts and nature. We seek to:
Become a premiere arts and cultural destination in the region and a national model
Increase our capacity to serve a broad and diverse population reflecting the demographics of our region
Develop and maintain Glen Echo Park to be economically and functionally sustainable
Offer and support innovating programs that serve the greater community
VALUES
These values guide our working relationships and operations:
Inclusion and access for all individuals in the life of the Park
Collaboration with various partners to enhance and sustain programs
Creativity in fostering the artistic production of community and resident artists
Innovation in providing opportunities for experimentation and change
Excellence in serving as a model of best practices in all areas of our operations
Glen Echo Park
GLEN ECHO PARK BY THE NUMBERS
Fiscal Year 2023
23,000
Attended Social Dances
23,000
Attended Festivals, Special Events & Concerts
242,000
Visited the Park
31,000
Rode the Historic Carousel
32,000
Attended Classes, Camps & Workshops
44,000
Viewed Exhibitions
17,000
Attended Children's Theater
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
A R C A D E L O B B Y R E N O V A T I O N
The Park’s largest building, the Arcade Building – which houses the Partnership’s office, classrooms, several resident arts organizations and galleries, our two children’s theaters, and more – has for many years included a first floor lobby that was not well-suited to providing information to visitors about current arts programs
To create a more welcoming and informative visitor space, the Partnership made changes that transformed the area into a functional Visitor Lobby with a 60” LED screen displaying information about the Park’s programs and events; brochure racks; floor-toceiling color images of artists working and visitors enjoying the Park; as well as benches offering indoor public seating in a climatecontrolled space. New LED lighting was added and old fixtures were removed.
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
W A S H I N G T
7,000+ visitors over 2 days!
The Washington Folk Festival drew an impressive crowd of more than 7,000 attendees over its two-day celebration, marketing a return to pre-pandemic levels and showcasing the park’s vital role as a cultural hub in Maryland. We take great pride in fostering a space where diverse cultural experiences flourish, inviting everyone to join in and participate.
The ever-popular Festival included two days of continuous music, dance, and storytelling on seven stages. The Partnership’s enhanced collaboration with the Folklore Society of Greater Washington to co-produce the festival resulted in an event that continues to showcase the best of the many and varied cultural traditions in the Washington, DC area.
Media coverage included WUSA9 news reporting live from the Park and interviews with CEO Katey Boerner and resident artist Blair Anderson (director of SilverWorks), whose solo show in the Stone Tower Gallery was also featured. The festival was recommended by The Washington Post, NBC4, Bethesda Magazine, DCist, and others.
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
C A R O U S E L D A Y & P R I D E F A M I L Y D A Y
Carousel Day 2023 celebrated the opening of our historic carousel for its 102nd season, and it was a success by any measure – especially the number of happy families joining in the creative fun. Extensive media coverage as well as rain holding off helped to bring in pre-pandemic attendance levels of well over 3,000 people, with the carousel ticket line wrapping around the building for several hours
Our performance venues, arts & crafts area, and open studios and galleries were filled with visitors enjoying all that the arts bring to life – wonder, joy, imagination Were were particularly proud to present the Piscataway Nation Singers & Dancers in our historic Spanish Ballroom, where crowds of visitors watched in awe.
Pride Family Day – in collaboration with Montgomery County Councilmember Evan Glass –was back for a 3rd year with more than 200 guests and more activities than ever Families enjoyed free face-painting, art projects, rainbow themed cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake, and carousel rides. Discounts to our children's theater shows were offered as well. And to make a memory that would last forever, many attendees took advantage of our family photo-op in front of a special Pride backdrop. We were proud to partner with Rainbow Families.
3,000+ visitors !
Glen Echo Park
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
DIVERSE VOICES: A JUNETEENTH CELEBRATION
In collaboration with Washington Revels, one of the Park’s thirteen resident arts groups, the Partnership presented a week-long series of events in celebration of Juneteenth. Diverse Voices: A Juneteenth Celebration took place from June 17-25 at the Park as well as various locations throughout the local community and culminated in a Festival of Freedom at the Park The festival commemorated the desegregation of the former Glen Echo Amusement Park in the summer of 1960 and featured storytelling, hands on arts and crafts, carousel rides, and live music performances by Dan+Claudia Zanes, Washington Revels Heritage Voices, Hubby Jenkins, and Grammy-nominated Sweet Honey in the Rock®.
Local media interest was significant due to several of the original protesters attending and speaking to the crowd. The festival began with a ceremonial procession that included freedom songs led by Washington Revels singers. Remarks by protesters, county officials, and others celebrated the courage of the protesters and all who have sacrificed to advance equality and justice in our country. It was a tremendously moving day.
Other events during the week included a panel hosted by Montgomery History with local leaders discussing their work to preserve and promote Montgomery county's African American history through community, agriculture, film and the arts; a daily antidote of song where artists sang and played songs of freedom and social justice for virtual audiences to join in; and storytelling presented by Carpe Diem Arts, among others throughout the region.
The week-long celebration brought name recognition and new audiences to the Park; more than 1,000 people attended the Festival of Freedom.
Diverse Voices was featured on and other local media outlets.
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
A R T W A L K & E X H I B I T I O N S H I G H L I G H T S
Art Walk is back! After a three-year hiatus, close 300 art enthusiasts attended the first Art Walk of the season. Every first Friday from May through August, visitors had the opportunity to stroll through the Park to view artwork in the Partnership Galleries and Resident Artists' studios, and to learn from artist demonstrations and hands-on art activities. A glass of wine and other refreshments rounded out the evening each month.
Partnership Galleries presented an exciting schedule of exhibitions in the Popcorn Gallery, Stone Tower Gallery, and Park View Gallery in 2023. Washington Post arts writer Mark Jenkins reveiwed several shows, including: Within The Wildness, a solo exhibition in the Stone Tower Gallery by sculptor Adam Bradley that dealt with the isolation of anxiety and the loneliness of grief; and Knot Forest, a solo show of work by Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann that combined collage, mosaic, and window installation to examine themes of escapism, accumulation, utopia, and magic by building abstract worlds that drew from Mann’s background as a biracial, Asian-American artist. The show’s signature piece was a site-specific vinyl-on-window installation that invited gallery visitors to collaborate using translucently painted vinyl, creating a stained glass effect
Partnership Galleries also presented Uprooted, an outdoor installation by Stephanie Garon; a photography show featuring advanced high school photographers; and Otis Street Arts Project: Rending ... Rendering, which featured the work of artists from a unique artist-run venue in Mount Rainier, Maryland
Presented work by Glen Echo Park Resident Artists, included: Yellow Barn Studio Instructors Exhibition; J. Jordan Bruns: Playing with Reality: 15 Years at Glen Echo Park; Glen Echo Glassworks: Creative Nature; and Glen Echo Pottery: Space Harmony Balance 2023
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
E C H O A R T S F E S T I V A L
2,000+ visitors !
In 2023 we presented our 2nd annual Echo Arts Festival, a celebration of visual and performing arts at the Park This year, we collaborated with the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino to honor Hispanic Heritage Month by presenting activities and performances that highlighted Latino culture, including a hands-on art-making project led by Texas-based artist Karla Saenz.
Inspired by the land and environment of the Park, as well ancient cave paintings, the public had the opportunity to take part in creating a collaborative piece using hand stencils and natural pigments.
The day-long event was a huge success! The Washington Post, DCist, and other media outlets and blogs recommend or featured the festival, which helped to bring in 2,200 visitors
Attendees enjoyed live music, dance, art demonstrations, hands-on art projects, and food trucks. Continuing the trend started at last year ’ s festival, Glen Echo Park resident artist studios and galleries had strong visitation and sales. And it was the last day of the carousel season, so hundreds of families took advantage of their final opportunity to ride in 2023
Echo Park
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
LABOR DAY WEEKEND!
7,000+ visitors over 3 days!
Labor Day weekend brought thousands of visitors to the Park for the 52nd annual Labor Day Art Show and our free Social Dance Showcase In addition to dancing and art, food trucks rounded out the days, making it possible for visitors to spend the entire day in the Park
LABOR DAY ART SHOW SOCIAL DANCE SHOWCASE
The 52nd Annual Labor Day Art Show took place in Glen Echo Park’s historic Spanish Ballroom from September 2-4, 2023. This free exhibition and sale presented more than 800 works by over 370 artists from the mid-Atlantic region Record sales were achieved for the second year in a row, and attendance was back to pre-pandemic levels.
The show featured a wide variety of media, including sculpture, painting, photography, ceramics, glass, furniture, jewelry, and works on paper Artists of all ages and skill levels were invited to showcase original works of art. Tom Doyle, an educator and artist based in Washington, DC, served as the judge for the 2023 Labor Day Art Show Awards.
Our free Social Dance Showcase – designed to bring new dancers to the park and entice those who dropped off during the pandemic to try dancing again – was also a huge success! Compared to the first showcase in 2022, we added a second day, new dance styles, and another venue. Dance styles included Casino de Rueda, Flamenco, Ballroom, Square Dance, Irish Waltzes, Irish Ceili and Cajun/Zydeco. Attendance doubled, with more than 1,500 people dancing their hearts out in two venues, the Bumper Car Pavilion and Ballroom Back Room. All dances were free and included a dance lesson, and most dances had live music
Earned media included:
• Featured on ABC7/WJLA’s Good Morning Washington with a live instudio interview of Partnership CEO Katey Boerner, followed by a dance demo and lesson with with swing dancers teaching GMW cohosts Kidd O’Shea and Eileen Whelan
• Featured on NBC4 Weekend Scene with Tommy McFly
• Featured in City Paper Arts Roundup • Featured on DCist
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
D E I A T A S K F O R C E
In 2023 the Partnership created a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access (DEIA) Task Force to ensure that we are living up to our DEAI goals (p 4)
The first task force project was developing a Land Acknowledgement statement that would honor Native Americans as original stewards of the land. We worked with the National Park Service and conducted research on Native Americans who lived in the Potomac Valley, where the Park currently resides. The statement, which is also on our website, follows:
Out of respect for the many Indigenous peoples who have known the Potomac Valley and its lands and waters as their homeland for thousands of years to the present day, we recognize the Native Nations' past, present, and future unbroken and unbreakable connections to these lands. We honor the resilience and perseverance of these Nations, including the Algonquin, Iroquois, and Siouan peoples, even as colonizers claimed this land as their own.
We were honored to present the Piscataway Nation Singers & Dancers at Carousel Day (p.9), and we will continue to celebrate Native peoples' culture and history. We are committed to collaborating with and presenting the work of diverse people and cultures.
Task Force members also developed new relationships with local churches and groups in Montgomery County’s African American community, which brought many new visitors to the Park to learn about the Park’s civil rights history and current programs.
Our Diverse Voices event series, launched in 2022, continued in 2023 with an exciting week-long celebration of Juneteenth. Diverse Voices: A Juneteenth Celebration (p.13) included collaborations with other arts organizations and outreach to media outlets that reach diverse audiences, all of which resulted in many newcomers to the Park
GALA IN THE PARK
D A N C I N G I N T O T H E F U T U R E
The Dancing Into the Future Gala in the Park on May 20, 2023 celebrated the historic Spanish Ballroom and the vibrant dance program at the Park
More than 300 guests joined us to honor Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich with the Friend of Glen Echo Park Advocacy Award and Ricardo Loaiza, Executive Director of After School Dance Fund, with the Friend of Glen Echo Park Innovation Award
The Honorable Aruna Miller, Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, was the Honorary Gala Chair and joined us via video message to kick off the evening WUSA9 News Anchor Lesli Foster emceed the program, while Downtown Tumbao provided live music during the dinner. Students from After School Dance Fund wowed the guests with their incredible dance performances during the program.
The lively evening raised $193,000 to suppor Park's arts programs, including over $20,00 support of the Transportation and Schola Fund that provides transportation reimburse and camp scholarships to eligible students low-income families, groups from Title I sch and nonprofit organizations
RESIDENTS & ARTS PARTNERS
RESIDENT ARTISTS
Adventure Theatre MTC
Art Glass Center at Glen Echo
Glen Echo Glassworks
Glen Echo Park Aquarium
Glen Echo Pottery
Stone Tower Studio
Photoworks the Puppet Co
Sculpture Studio
SilverWorks Studio & Gallery
Washington Conservatory of Music
Washington Revels
Yellow Barn Studio & Gallery
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Martha Morris, President
NON-RESIDENT PARTNERS
American Swing Music & Dance Association
Capital Blues
Culkin School of Traditional Irish Dance
Folklore Society of Greater Washington
Friday Night Dancers
Metropolitan Ballet Theatre & Academy
Tango Brillante DC
Waltz Time
Young Creative Spirit and Other Individual Artists & Arts Partners
BOARD & STAFF STAFF
Katey Boerner, Chief Executive Officer
Irena Savakova, Vice President
Dan Hanlon, Treasurer
Ronda Keys, Secretary
Philip Bay
Bonnie Casper
Dia Costello
Matthew Donizetti
Hon. Andrew Friedson*
David Greenbaum
Swati Gupta
Heather Hanson-Rivas
Kenneth Hartman Espada*
Mona Kishore
Ellen Lengermann
Barbar Martin
Theresa Neilson
Samir Paul
Katrin Peck
Willem Polak
Mike Zangwill
*Ex-Officio Members
Lucas Chatwin, Events & Venue Assistant Manager
Jenni Cloud, Marketing and Communications Director
