Leesburg, VA April 2024

Investing in the Arts

ARTS + CULTURE

HOW MUSIC KNITS US TOGETHER AS A COMMUNITY

REAL ESTATE

SECURING YOUR FUTURE WITH RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE INVESTING AND INSURANCE

Photo by Christy Kosnic

Architect: Cawood Architecture, PLLC

Sleep Disorders Are a Major Problem and We can Help!

In order to be your best, you have to sleep your best.

Whether it is consultation regarding lifestyle changes or testing for vitamin D-3 deficiency, we are here for you. We can also assess your need for a CPAP, or another device to help you sleep and fight sleep apnea. A much better approach to treating apnea is the Panthera device. It is made by a dentist and brings your chin forward (just like in doing CPR) to open the airway. It is very effective and easy to wear. For most people it does the job as well as a CPAP and in some cases even better. There are many other ways to deal with apnea- most of these are surgical-but the above ideas are simple and generally quite easy to implement for most people.

Dr. Jeffrey L. Brown

DENTIST

Dr. Brown understands sleep apnea and how it correlates to TMJ treatment. His knowledge in the combined fields of TMJ, sleep and orthodontics has given him a perspective unlike most other practitioners who perform basic dentistry. In addition, he has also learned the advanced techniques involved in expanding an airway so that both children and adults can breathe better.

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Investing in Ourselves

I once asked my son, an actor, if he felt he had a calling to act. He asked me, “After Act One of (the musical) Rent, you hated it didn’t you?” I agreed. “After the play, did you feel differently?” I did. “You could sit through 100 sermons and maybe agree or disagree with what you hear, but the theatre changes you in ways you don’t expect because you go there with an open heart, to be entertained, not lectured.” Ok, I said. I get it.

Art forms that show us human experience – whether or not we “relate” directly to that perspective – have the power to change us all, making us more empathetic and understanding of others and their points of view. That’s what draws us to make and perform, to watch and to listen. Sure, we want to be entertained, but we also to be moved and somehow connected to others.

So, we’re focused this month on “Investing in the Arts.” As a community, we’ve been blessed with both fiscal growth and an explosion of top talent and creativity in our midst. Two stories focus on an internationally known Jazz singer, Tracy Hamlin, who this month graces us with her second annual Sweet Jazz Festival, and Maestro Kim Allen Kluge, Director of the Loudoun Symphony Orchestra, who has guest conducted the world over and scored for Scorsese. Another story spotlights a young artist whose striking work elicits empathy for those with anxiety and mental illness, emotions others often try to hide.

Jazz Fest will ring out in the National Convention Center, and the LSO splits its performances among churches and schools. Local theatre companies are tucked away in “black box” theatres in strip malls or industrial parks. Uniquely, Ion Arena has brought a new and exciting performance venue to the county, and dazzled us by adding Olympic skaters to the mix.

In short, we’ve grown. We’ve grown economically and emotionally, wiser for having had to endure forced isolation. If we can afford soccer and football stadiums, why not performing arts centers? It’s a question both the Town of Leesburg and the County Board of Supervisors are raising in earnest, so we’ve brought some voices to the table to explore Art’s ROI.

It’s not our only investment, of course. This isn’t the movies and we do have to make a living, plan for retirement, and protect our families’ way of life. Together, we’re all just trying to make our community a better place to live.

Melinda

1-3: The February 4th Teenage Cast of Ride the Cyclone at StageCoach Theatre.

Photography by Melinda Gipson

Natasha Magrath Takes Chamber Small Business Leadership Award

Natasha Magrath, president and CEO of You’ve Got Maids of Northern Virginia, received the Small Business Award from the Loudoun Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Awards in February for her great philanthropic work in our county. She said, “The heart of You’ve Got Maids is community. By inviting our clients to share in giving back, we become much more than a standard cleaning company. We care for each other, our clients, and the people living in the areas we serve.”

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Photography: Pamela Jones, Extraordinary Transitions

Natalie Ramos to Keynote Shelter House Luncheon

Natalie Ramos, Fleur de Cuisine caterer and restaurant owner, will keynote the Changing Lives Benefit Luncheon on April 23rd for Shelter House, which helps the homeless and victims of domestic violence. “Natalie, her daughter Tiana and their team are longtime supporters of the Loudoun Homeless Services Center (LHSC), operated by Shelter House,” said Executive Director and CEO Joe Meyer. “The residents at LHSC feel a sense of home and comfort through Fleur de Cuisine’s delectable monthly meal service.” For tickets see: bit.ly/ changeliveslunch

Photography: Melinda Gipson

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NI V E STINGINRESIDENTIALREALES T A ET

So, you want to invest in residential real estate?

Find a property that needs some cosmetic updates and purchase it at below market value. After doing some minor renovations, rent the property to create positive cash flow. Refinance within that year and pull out the additional equity to use as the down payment for your next property. Rinse and repeat! After 20 years, you’ll have a portfolio of residential property worth millions that will provide you with plenty of passive income for retirement.

That all sounds like a great idea and, for some savvy real estate professionals, it’s an effective strategy for building wealth.

But the reality is that this strategy is far from simple.

Fifteen years ago, on the cusp of the Great Financial Crisis, my real estate business was focused on residential appraisals. Much of my work involved preparing Operating Income Statements and Rent Schedules for real estate investment properties. I had a front row seat to the rise and fall of many part-time real estate investors. Here are just some of the things I learned.

JC

COST OF OWNERSHIP:

Typically, this was underestimated because the investor believed that Principle, Interest, Insurance, and Taxes (PITI) were the only things necessary to factor. But to accurately predict the cost of ownership, investors need to be factoring the replacement costs of all the major components of the property. Appliances, flooring, mechanical units, roof, etc. – they all have an expected economic life.

Planning for that depreciation is part of the equation. For example, if the remaining effective life of the roof is 5 years and the replacement cost is $15,000, then $250 a month should be included in the cost of ownership.

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CASH FLOW:

After appraising hundreds of investment properties here in Northern Virginia, I can count on one hand the number of properties that were cash flow positive assuming a conventional loan with a 20% down payment. Misunderstanding the true cost of ownership is always a factor, but overestimating rental income can come into play as well. Failure to understand that a property likely will not be rented 100% of the time (factoring in a vacancy rate) is often the difference between a property being cash flow positive and cash flow negative.

PROPERTY APPRECIATION:

Real estate always appreciates right? If you’ve only been in the market for the past 10 years you’ve known nothing but rising home values. But the real estate market is cyclical. It’s not a question of if your investment property will lose value at some point but when .

In 2011 and 2012, I saw many part-time real estate investors in a very difficult financial situation. They were cash flow negative on investment properties that they assumed would be worth more than when they purchased them. When their adjustable-rate mortgage reset to a market rate on a property that

had become worth less than what they owed, they were left with few options, none of them favorable. Property short-sales, foreclosures, and often personal bankruptcies were common.

Some of the most beneficial tax laws in the country are available to real estate investors. In my opinion, it’s an asset class that shouldn’t be overlooked. Residential real estate investors that do well understand the market, know the numbers inside and out, and are prepared to weather the storm if the fundamentals shift.

Please don’t take this as investment advice! It’s just my perspective after 25 years of studying the local real estate market.

If you’re ready to put your real estate strategy to work, or just make your own home better fit your life, please give me a call. Helping you forge a successful plan given your individual goals and circumstances in today’s fast-moving real estate market is what I do.

Since 2001, JC has been involved in the Real Estate business. He spends the majority of his time as a Realtor®, helping buyers and sellers successfully navigate their real estate transactions. See SilveyResidential.com for more information.

INSURANCE:

The

Investment that Doubles as a Love Letter

Anna Connors, owner of Connors Coverage Group says, “Part of why I got into providing insurance was a loss in our family. I don’t wish the experience on any parent, but if I can help people financially through difficult times in their lives, that gives me purpose.” Buying life insurance for yourself also can mean the world to grieving family members: “It’s like a love letter to your family at their toughest possible time. What better proof of your love than you leaving them with wealth or with all your debts paid off? It’s how you can show them that you still love them even if you’re not there to tell them.”

Most people appreciate the importance of life insurance to protect their assets, but they

may think of life insurance as an expense rather than an investment, Anna said. “I’d like people to know how life insurance can protect their futures as well as that of their loved ones. It should be looked at as an investment, not an expense.’

Life insurance can be considered an investment because you are ensuring that your family will be able to maintain their lifestyle once you are gone, she explains. It also carries living benefits that are included on certain policies that give you access to some of the policy funds if you have a chronic, critical or terminal illness. “Living benefits can take care of you and ensure your quality of life while you’re alive.” Some life insurance products

Anna Connors

also allow you to earn interest and cash value – an added benefit you can access in your lifetime.

Moreover, if you own a business, having the company invest in life insurance for the owners can mean the difference between that entity surviving or failing in their absence.

“Key man insurance can pay your business after the key person dies’ while you search for a replacement or perhaps look for someone else to buy the company,” she said.

Insuring things associated with your business or property that can fail or wear out, is another reasonable investment. Recently, Anna’s water main to her house broke, and it would have cost $15,000 to replace it. “Luckily, I had service line coverage as part of my home policy, so I was fully reimbursed!” That may be a familiar example to most people, but Anna drives home the point by adding, “Your life, conversely, is not something you can replace. But at least you can make life for those you leave behind easier.”

There are many forms of life insurance as there are life situations, she adds. Industry jargon like “term life,” “whole life”, “Indexed Universal Life Insurance” “guaranteed life insurance,” or even annuities can seem complex, but that’s why you call a professional like Anna with a portfolio of options that can fit any situation. Citing just one example, she said, “An illness like cancer can empty your bank account, even if you have health insurance. One benefit of having life insurance in place is that you can access some of those funds to help pay for your treatment.”

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In short, the most important investment you make may be in your own peace of mind, but you can also accumulate wealth while you’re protecting what matters most. For a truly enlightening conversation, see ConnorsCoverageGroup. com or email her at Anna.Connors@ connorscoveragegroup.com and schedule a consultation. See a

ARTICLE BY MELINDA GIPSON PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANNA CONNORS

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brochure, or visit AshbyPonds.com. Find the perfect apartment home to fit your style and budget at Ashburn’s

Upper School students recently traveled to the Galapagos to engage in giant African snail removal, tortoise monitoring, and microplastics surveying.

ARTICLE BY MICHAEL GAUVREAU PHOTOGRAPHY BY CRYSTALE VAIL SPEARMAN, EYEIMAGERY

LOCAL JAZZ SINGER, PRODUCER BRINGS SWEET JAZZ FEST TO LOUDOUN APRIL 19-20

TRACY HAMLIN: NO LIMITS

Never try to limit Tracy Hamlin.  As she puts it, “In the music business, you must be a Jack of All Trades. When record companies tried to put me in a box, they couldn’t. They asked, ‘What is she trying to be?’  I’m a singer! I deliver what the song calls for. I can sing coun-

Vice President of the Washington DC’s Recording Academy Chapter, and as a National Trustee on five National Grammy Committees. (Trustees usually serve on one, sometimes two, committees, making her involvement in five committees noteworthy.)

“I CAN SING COUNTRY, JAZZ, R&B, POP – YOU CAN’T PUT ME IN A BOX.”

try, jazz, R&B, Pop – you can’t put me in a box. So, I started my own record label, DMH Records.”

It was a move characteristic of this petite but mighty Renaissance woman who strikes us as humble yet confident, driven yet circumspect, accomplished yet always reaching for more. Tracy is known by most of her fans in Loudoun County as a singer with a soaring voice and indefatigable energy. But she is so much more: a songwriter, teacher, producer, concert promoter, talk show host, and most recently, restauranteur.

Tracy has toured with and supported Gloria Gaynor, two-time Grammy winner and “I Will Survive” composer and performer, as a backup vocalist, vocal arranger and tour manager. She is currently traveling the world singing and playing keyboards for another Oscar and Grammy winner, the great Peabo Bryson, whose tour took them to the Hollywood Bowl and Tokyo last Summer. And, speaking of the Grammys, Tracy has served as

Six albums have been released by Tracy on her DMH Record label, named for her late mother, Dorothy Marie Hamlin. Her first album , “Seasons,” was released in 2005, right after web-based music sales pioneer CD Baby ( https:// cdbaby.com/) was hitting its stride worldwide. Unbeknownst to Tracy, “Seasons” had become a hit through CD Baby on the United Kingdom’s Soul Charts. It wasn’t until the release of her 2009 album “Better Days” that Tracy discovered she had an entire fan base in the UK, complete with a fan chat room, fan forums and her own Tracy Hamlin Fan Club. “One day I Googled myself and a few Tracy Hamlin forums popped up, so I thought ‘Oh wow, there is another artist named Tracy Hamlin!’ Then I started reading the comments and realized it was me!”

Shortly thereafter, “Better Days” reached Number One on the UK Soul Charts and the performance offers started rolling in. Since the British wanted to meet their favorite Soul

CONTINUED >

artist in person, a UK Tour was organized, and Tracy’s music has been charting on Britain’s Soul Charts ever since. Her other album releases include “This is My Life” and “Home,” (both in 2013), and “No Limits,” (2015), “Christmas With You” (2022) and more than 60 dance singles.

Several times throughout her career, the proud Baltimore native has been thrust into important jobs by chance, usually without any education or experience in the job. “I just figured things out as I went along and kept a positive attitude,” she explains.

While covering office positions for a temp agency early in her career, she was given a clerical assignment at the Jemicy School in Owings Mills, Maryland, a private school specializing in educating students with dyslexia.  Three days into the assignment, she was offered a permanent position and terms were reached. Once senior staff learned about Tracy’s musical background, she was coaxed into developing a music therapy program for the students. As she was unable to find any other such program to emulate, she decided to create her own. Without a formal education, experience, or teaching certificate in the discipline, and very little in the way of resources, she felt like a true pioneer. Over the next 10 years, Tracy went on to develop a ground-breaking and wildly successful music therapy curriculum for all Jemicy students. The program was so effective that it was studied, analyzed and duplicated by area universities, and became a widely used, baseline format for dyslexic music therapy courses.

TRACY INSPIRES

LISTENERS “TO

ALWAYS

BE REACHING OUT FOR THEIR DREAMS.”

Her intriguing and varied working life also included a Regional Promotion Manager position with Def Jam Recordings, working directly with founder Russell Simmons, and artists LL Cool J and Public Enemy. It was through this position that she made many important music industry contacts that would help sustain and advance her music career.

At one point, Tracy was hired by a wealthy client to produce his birthday party in his native St. Lucia. Again, she rose to the occasion using her organizational skills and considerable Rolodex of industry contacts. This party transitioned into a major annual private jazz party and gave Tracy yet another title: Concert Promoter.

When she’s not globetrotting with Peabo Bryson, she organizes her own tours to showcase her music catalog and promotes her own jazz concert series partnering with musicians like Prince alumni and Grammy-nominated saxophonist Marcus Johnson, Jay Z and Michael Jackson alumni trombonist Jeff Bradshaw, and Loudoun County’s own jazz aficionado, pianist, composer and educator, Quentin Walston.

These artists, along with several other renowned jazz masters, will join Tracy for

Tracy & Peabo Backstage

Peabo & Tracy On Stage

Tracy Inspires others to follow their dreams

her Sweet Jazz Festival 2024 (sweet jazzfestival.com), on April 19th and 20th at the National Conference Center in Leesburg. (Hurry to grab tickets, as the concerts will be held inside and they’re expected to go quickly.) In just its second year, the festival has expanded to two nights. Sponsorships were still available at this writing; see more at sweetjazz festival.com/sponsors, or email info@ sweetjazzfestival.com. A portion of the proceeds will fund three music scholarships and several grants to area non-profits that also will be awarded at the event. “I love helping people through music,” says Tracy.

In 2006, Tracy married Nathaniel E. (Nat) Landry, Jr., PhD, an expert in Information Management Systems and author, in addition to being Tracy’s big gest fan. Together, they recently opened BayouNOLA, a Cajun restaurant located in the Garage on King in Martinsburg, West Virginia. “Nat’s gumbo has become so popular in Martinsburg that we can’t come close to keeping up with demand,” exclaims Tracy.

No portrait of Tracy Hamlin would be complete without mentioning her spiritual side. “Unlike many Jazz and R&B singers, I did not grow up singing Gospel music in a church,” she says. “My father was Baptist and my mother was a Jehovah’s Witness, so there was a very versatile approach to religion in our household.” Through her lyrics, she inspires her listeners with positive messages as she weaves in important life lessons without preaching or being judgmental.

“I am a daily praying girl, but I would describe myself more accurately as spiritual. My music is lined with positive, practical life messages that are applicable to everyone’s life, regardless of your religion. I like to think I come in from the ‘flank’ and leave my listeners with inspiring messages that can help improve their lives spiritually and energizes them to always be reaching out for their dreams.”

And that’s music to our ears.

John C. Whitbeck

Debbie Rose James Beglis

MAESTRO KLUGE

Us All into LSO’s Orbit

ARTICLE BY MELINDA GIPSON PHOTOGRAPHY BY MELINDA GIPSON, TEAK MCAFEE

The People’s Conductor. Pied Piper. Bridge Builder. Passionate Performer. Hollywood Composer. It takes a multitude of monikers to try to describe Kim Allen Kluge, Loudoun Symphony Orchestra Music Director. In the end, he says he’s all about community and connectedness, seeing music as the string that binds humanity together.

Drawing

Kim Kluge: An Evening With the Maestro

“The goal”, says Kim, “is to unleash the creative energies of Loudoun County and bring us all closer together.”

Born in Madison, Wisconsin, he was raised in a small town outside of Madison. His mom was Korean, which, at the time, was a rare ethnic minority in the rural Midwest. “I was a racial, ethnic, and cultural minority. So, I developed at a very early age this passion – and I would even call it a sense of mission – to be a bridge builder, and to use whatever I was given to help build bridges to connect people. That’s what drew me to the Loudoun Symphony. I see a lot of opportunities here.”

From an early age, Kim begged for a piano, though he couldn’t say where this desire originated. He earned money with a paper route to help his parents finally buy one, then added a violin and four more instruments which he now plays proficiently. His church made him the church organist while he was still in Middle School, and that blossomed into a “ministry” of music.

“I learned music had the ability to heal, and realized the power and responsibility that came with that when I was just a kid. I had that sense of mission from an early age. I learned about both service to others, and the power of music and the arts to unite people and create community.”

He attended Oberlin as an undergrad, graduating valedictorian from its world-class conservatory with a string of awards. He pursued doctorates in Piano and Conducting from the University of Maryland, holds conducting diplomas from the Academia Musicale Chigiana in Siena and spent many seasons at Tanglewood where he studied with Seiji Ozawa as a conducting fellow. He transformed the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra into a regional arts hub, founded Capital City Opera, and has guest-conducted the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Baltimore Lyric Opera, Sinfonietta de Paris, and Les Solistes

The Melechenko Family and the Kluge's at "Truth & Transcendence"

Next page: Luiz Taifas & Mitra Setyash

1

Parisiens and the Mannheim Chamber Orchestra. (And, yes, that’s the “short list.”)

It could have been his early passion for music that moved him to help spearhead the first El Sistema program in the Washington, DC area, an equity-based music program that helps build leadership in young musicians. A leader in the Washington Inter-Arts Movement, he also helped inaugurate the Music Diaries Project, a grassroots arts program to bring greater diversity and inclusiveness to the performing arts.

But if you think that just means teaching kids classical music, you’d be wrong. If anything, the bridges Kim builds go both ways, and his February “Truth & Transcendence” concert featured not only George Walker’s “Lyric for Strings,” but Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida,” and Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy.” As a shining example of the American Dream in action, he also introduced Loudoun to a family of Ukrainian musicians, the Melichenko Family, whom he helped to secure asylum in the US and who now live in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

The family’s performers are father Sergiy, who plays the button accordion; son Vladyslav, 17, who has played the same instrument since he was five, and daughter Anastasia, 12, on violin, who already has competed internationally. Their joyful rendition of “It’s What a Wonderful World,” with its poignant reminder that much of their own homeland may in fact have vanished, brought down the house.

But the sharing of neither truth nor transcendence was over for the evening. Kim first introduced, then the orchestra played, the debut of a composition Kim wrote with his wife Kathryn, whom he calls the “more gifted” of their “wife-husband” composing duo. “Traveler in the Mist,” said Kim, is a “musical meditation for orchestra and recorded soundtrack” inspired by the murders of the Osage Nation Peoples in the early 1900’s, as detailed in the book and movie “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

The Kluges in fact wrote the piece to inspire director Martin Scorsese, for whom they composed

Top: Kim and Kathryn Kluge, Composing Duo Bottom: Pam & Dave Jones of Extraordinary Transitions Have Pledged Half Their Commissions This Year to LSO

Host Kluge at Home, One Planet at Ion Arena June

“I believe in the power of music to inspire, transcend, unite communities and make the world a better place.”

— Kim Kluge

the soundtrack to the 2016 movie “Silence.” Scorsese ended up scoring “Killers” with a Native American composer, Robbie Robertson, who died shortly after completing the album. Not being included in the movie score does nothing to diminish the haunting “voices” of the composition’s blackjack trees, represented with an “evocative rattling sound,” the gibbering of coyotes, the howling of wolves and the screaming of owls called upon to lament the murderous plot that nearly wiped out the Osage people.

Kim helped his audience anticipate these sounds by describing them in advance, along with the crowing and knocking of crows that foreshadow tribe members’ murders, the rhythmic pounding of an oil drill drawing both

prosperity and doom, the mechanical whistle of a train with its “ominous sense of inevitability,” and an actual field recording of a metaphorical last buffalo stampede, all accentuated by Native American instruments. Once ignited, his listeners’ imagination was transported into the tale of how greed caused many Osage tribe members to vanish into the blood-soaked ground of the plains. Kim relates that he and his wife were inspired by a descendant of a murdered Osage family who quoted Genesis in describing the tragedy. She told “Killers of the Flower Moon” author David Gann, “The blood cries out from the ground” – as God said to Cain after he killed his brother Abel. “We found so much poetry, irony and power in this phrase and how it was used in this context,” Kim says.

Kim’s conducting of the performance offered insight into his own view of how much energy the audience itself injects into every musical performance. Before raising his baton, he led a packed audience at St. David’s Episcopal Church into humming the main elements of the composition’s core melody, compiling an impromptu, augmented chord from their assembled voices. “You are meant to help create this world,” he explained; “It is as if the music is asking, ‘Why? Why?’... We believe that this very important part of American history should never be forgotten.”

There’s much more magic to come from the Kluges, both in and outside of Hollywood. Stay tuned. For now, Loudoun is his stage, despite the absence of a single arts venue large enough to accommodate LSO’s fans in just one performance. To fuel the orchestra’s own needs, he’s promised to dazzle the crowd at an April 27th fundraiser by both playing and conducting Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”. (See loudounsymphony.org for details.) But it’s the June performances of “One Planet, One Community,” that Kim hopes will afford the symphony an opportunity to unify Loudoun’s love of the arts.

This program will take place at 4 PM, Saturday, June 1 at ION Arena and a second concert Sunday, June 2 featuring Holst's “The Planets” at St. David’s. At ION, Olympic skaters will offer their own interpretations of how artistic expression is both individual and what unites all humanity, and a large screen, multimedia presentation will show collected artistic works by Loudouners all interpreting the theme: “What brings us together: as residents of Loudoun, as human beings in the natural world, and as part of a global civilization.”

For the multimedia presentation, original art works were solicited from Loudoun County Public Schools and professional artists and they will be displayed on a screen behind the orchestra on Ion Arena’s massive stage. LCPS created some of the artwork via a collaboration between teachers and students. Tickets for the ION performance are on sale at ION’s website Ionarena.com.

The inspiration for these performances “grew out of a post-pandemic vision of rebuilding community through a heightened awareness of our global connectedness, our need to take better care of one another and our planet, and a conviction that all humans are innately creative.” The goal, says Kim, is “to unleash the creative energies of Loudoun County and bring us all closer together.”

Kim reflects daily on his motto: “I believe in the power of music to inspire, transcend, unite communities and make the world a better place.” Loudoun County is “such a diverse and sprawling community and it is growing so rapidly. You've got all the traditional influences plus this huge influx of new ideas and new energy.” He’s excited to see how it all mixes together. “Our goal is to unleash the creativity of Loudoun and then to put it on public display for all to enjoy!”

“All humans are born innately creative, all of us,” he adds. “It makes me sad when people say they aren’t creative, but I try to help them look at themselves in a different way. I want, through this ‘One Planet, One Community’ festival, to inspire Loudoun County to look at itself as a place exploding with creative energies from all across different artistic expressions, including science… I wouldn't be surprised if there's some 12-year-old out there in Loudoun County who comes up with a solution for climate change!”

So there it is. Maestro Kluge has lit a lamp, put the flute to his lips and is piping us across a bridge held up by the hands of all Loudoun’s creators. We follow willingly. Trust us when we say that, once you’ve listened, you can’t unhear the tune, and he’ll always leave you wanting more.

Top: Kim Kluge Weaves His Spell; "Music Makes the World a Better Place"

Bottom: Kathryn and Kim, photo by Teak McAfee

ARTICLE BY MELINDA GIPSON PHOTOGRAPHY BY MJL STUDIOS, BURNETT & WILLIAMS

Jean Trotter, Betty O'Lear, Renee Hogan, Patricia Hoffman & Bobbie Christman, Citizens for the Arts in Eastern Loudoun County

Five retired women living in Ashburn received a big Valentine when the County Administrator presented the proposed 2025 county budget to the Board of Supervisors (BOS) on February 14.

The women, neighbors in the over-55 community of The Regency at Ashburn formed Citizens for the Arts in Eastern Loudoun County with the express purpose of persuading local leaders to build a performance and visual arts center in eastern Loudoun.  When the proposed 2025 County budget was released on Valentine’s Day, one of its new initiatives was “funding to begin preliminary design of an Eastern Loudoun Community Arts Center.”

“We hoped to see this in the budget, but had no idea it would be. If we had known, we’d have popped the cork on some Champagne!” said Betty O’Lear, one of the group’s organizers. She and neighbors Bobbie Christman, Patricia Hoffman, Renee Hogan, and Jean Trotter actually began discussing their desire to attend arts programs in the neighborhood in mid-2022, lamenting that there was no central place to go see Loudoun’s myriad arts groups perform. So, they created an organization name and a logo and set to work.

They reasoned that such a facility would need seating for at least 500 attendees, but not be too large because the cost to rent it might be prohibitive for small groups like StageCoach Theatre, Sterling Playmakers, and the Lyric Opera. “Equity, availability and accessibility” were their guiding principles, along with making sure a family of four can afford tickets.

Through family connections, Betty was familiar with the Reser Performance Center in Beaverton, Oregon, and recognized that facility as being the kind of facility Loudoun needs. The group also discovered that, closer to home, Reston, Virginia, had recently drafted its own design. We “borrowed like crazy,” from the many designs and centers we visited or learned about, Betty said, suggesting that to be useful to patrons as well as performers, the center should have practice rooms and arts rooms in addition to a performance hall.

The group first met with their own supervisor, Sylvia Glass (Broad Run District), who took the lead in sharing their ideas with the County Board of Supervisors. After sharing their interest at Supervisor meetings in the fall of 2022, Chair Randall then said, “Let’s talk,” so they developed a PowerPoint outlining their concept and shared

it with other supervisors. Finally, in April 2023, the Finance Committee voted to put the concept into the Capital Improvement Program (CIP)— unfunded. The county then followed up with a feasibility study in late 2023.

Not knowing the results of the feasibility study, a few dozen representatives of local arts groups got together in early February of this year to discuss how they could all lend their support to the effort. All shared their difficulties in finding and affording venues that showcased their talents.

Such a plan might take years to come to fruition, but for now, says Betty, “Finally we all have hope.” And, they’re not alone.

The Town of Leesburg also is considering a proposal to build a performing arts center downtown on the 2-acre municipal parking lot on Liberty St. Leesburg attorney Peter Burnett, who has no financial stake in the project, facilitated the submission of the only proposal for a public-private partnership (PPP) to develop the property in response to a town request for such proposals a couple of years ago. He is generally acknowledged as the leader of the private members of the group which includes Waukeshaw Development Inc., Bowman Consulting, James G. Davis Construction, and DBI Architects Inc.

With its FY 2024 budget, the Leesburg Town Council appropriated $30,000 in funding for a “Liberty Lot Redevelopment Workgroup” to study development options. So far, the Town has spent $9,712.50 on a detailed “Size and Use Analysis” report, and $10,000 on a “Fiscal Impact Analysis.”

Separate from the Workgroup’s study budget, and because the site is a former dump, the Council allocated $164,000 to fund an environmental remediation study to see what it might cost to remove the existing landfill material. The preliminary estimate to fully remediate the site ranges between $12 million and $17 million, which could be an economic non-starter, Peter says. But he said full site remediation might not be needed if the site were simply capped, and a 360-space parking garage built on top. The performing arts center could be immediately next door on the corner of Wirt and South Streets and the town would benefit from both weeknight and weekend parking access for the Performing Arts and Conference Center and provide added downtown business parking during normal business hours at the town’s usual parking rates.

Originally, the proposal included not only a performing arts center but also a restaurant and 65 units of affordable senior housing on the space, but further investigation concluded that they would be unable to tap Virginia bond financing to help construct the senior housing on the Liberty Lot itself because of the lot’s landfill history. Instead, a boutique hotel with a restaurant is being considered on additional land to the east of the performing arts center site. It would be built by developer Don Knutson, of the Knutson Companies.  Additional adjacent locations for the attainable housing are being explored. Both a performance center consultant hired by the group and Visit Loudoun says there would be significant benefits from a nearby hotel, both for the performing arts center and to house users of its alternative use conference center.

Detailed cost estimates for construction of the various elements of the project haven’t been conducted, but broad estimates put public funding at around $30 million to build a 40,000 square foot 500-seat performance art and event space, and between $12 million and $16 million to build the parking garage.

The full Workgroup includes Peter, a partner in Burnett & Williams, familiar to our readers for spearheading The Ampersand Project during the pandemic; Al Hansen, President of DBI Architects; Don Knutson, the hotel developer and an active member of the Loudoun County Housing Advisory Board; and Kim Hart, a general partner in the forprofit Good Works LP. Kim, a Loudoun Laurels recipient for his work in developing more than 700 affordable rental units for Loudoun County, also has served on the Loudoun County Housing Advisory Board and is advocating for the senior housing piece of the project.

Rounding out the group are Vice Mayor Neil Steinberg and Councilman Ara Bagdasarian. Ara has served as president of the Loudoun Symphony Orchestra and co-founded BENEFIT, an organization of local musicians who annually organize Leesburg’s Crossroads Music Festival to help fund local non-profits. They’re supported by Town staff Keith Markel, Deputy Town Manager; Russell Seymour, Director of Economic Development; and James David, Director of Community Development Council.

Asked whether he would consider a county-funded facility to be competitive with the Town

plan, Peter said, “Absolutely not! The thing about theatres is that they tend to attract business for each other much like restaurant districts in many communities.” Obviously, the County would be welcome to help fund the project, Peter added, but all the local performing arts groups complain of such a paucity of performance space that there is plenty of demand to go around.

The difficulty in parsing such a center’s usage comes when considering what kinds of entertainment tend to be the most lucrative, balanced with the extent to which the community wishes to support local arts groups. Louise Stevens, an arts center management consultant to the group, estimates that, of 120-140 available performing nights per year, as many as 80 of those days would need to attract nationally-recognized acts for the facility to be profitable. Managed with an eye to the highest potential revenue, she believes it would create up to 175 jobs and bring millions in spending to the community.

As an investment, RCL Consulting Group said they thought it would add between $400,000 and $500,000 annually in tax dollars to the town coffers. “Interestingly, it would cost between $200,000 and $400,000 per year to have the facility managed, so it looks to have break-even operational potential right out of the box,” Peter says, but he allows that there are other considerations like support for local performers that need to be taken into consideration.

In his mind, the theatre would be owned by the Town which would have the ultimate responsibility for it. Beyond that, how it would be paid for is “still subject to a fair amount of thought and no single conclusion has yet been reached.” Some of the money might be raised by corporate donors and local arts patrons, for example.

Says Peter, “The downtown needs to have its own internal economic vigor and I think it has something to give our community that no other place in the county can: the historic district and its charm and its variety of architecture, eating venues and stores. All that just goes hand in hand with a performing arts center.”

“I think the whole package helps assure a successful, vigorous economy for downtown Leesburg for decades to come,” he adds.

The Town was holding an open hearing on the plan at our deadline.

Peter Burnett and Al Hansen, President of DBI Architects

“quiet terrors, QUIET JOYS”

ARTIST JANELLE WASHINGTON CUTS DEEP TO REVEAL STRONG EMOTIONS

ARTICLE AND PHOTOGRAPHY

BY MELINDA GIPSON

Through her prior career in fashion design, silhouette artist Janelle Washington was introduced to paper-cutting as a design tool. She soon realized, “I can use paper-cutting as a vehicle for my voice to come through and create things that are important to me.”

The Guild of American Paper Cutters taught her what kinds of paper and tools to use and she began experimenting. She now draws, then cuts with a craft knife and scans her work into a computer to be traced and excised in a larger format.

Her “Quiet Terrors, Quiet Joys” exhibit, which we caught at the Barns of Rose

Hill in Berryville, was inspired by the book “The Boy With a Bird in His Chest,” which she read during the pandemic. It inspired her to think about her friends’ struggles with anxiety, mental illness and other emotions during their isolation. To explore those struggles, she created an anonymous survey asking people to describe how they felt in terms of a small animal or insect. The visually gripping yet somehow intimate images she created with these metaphors helped her depict what her respondents were feeling, but typically hiding from others.

“I want people when they view this to think about themselves; what is something that maybe you’ve been hiding from

yourself, or that you’re dealing with? Consider that others may be going through the same thing and maybe you’ll have more empathy for those around you,” she said. Her artwork is in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African-American History and Culture, and she made her successful debut as a picture book illustrator this past year, winning the 2023 Caldecott Honor Award for her work on Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement. She’s now working on her own picture book about how everyone in her family always ends up in the kitchen, to be published next Spring. See washingtoncuts.com

Left page, left: Janelle Washington Illustrated “Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement” | Top right: Janelle’s Favorite Work in the Exhibit: “Coiled” | Bottom right: Silhouettes were mounted in such a way that you could see through and behind them, intricate shadows playing on the wall | This page, top left: “Swipe” Confession of a Hoarder | Top center: “Covering”: Depression is a big black moth covering my eyes

Top right: “Gnawing”: anxiety is like a caterpillar that gnaws holes in my peace of mind (Ps. 139:23-24) |

Bottom left: “Trapped and Nervous”: like a small nervous bird |

Bottom right: “Busy”: anxiety and panic attacks like an erratic dragonfly

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