Greenbelt is a mecca for creative people in a wide range of media; people are attracted to the artistic community, the affordability, AND to the resources available to creatives who live and work here.
Where to Show, Perform or Publish your Work
Music
- The back room of the New Deal Cafe is Greenbelt’s main stage for bands. Here are the FAQs for performers. Click to apply to perform
- Solo musicians may perform at the New Deal Cafe’s regular open mike night – Tuesdays. Just show up and sign up to get on stage. But check the calendar of events first.
- Blues Jams 1st Thursdays of the month at the New Deal Café, organized by Wolf Crescenze, who’s been organizing blues jams for years. It attracts people from the DMV and even out-of-towners. Great way to meet potential bandmates and potential fans, too. All styles of electric blues welcome. Questions? Contact wolfsweekly@aol.com or the WolfsMusicWeekly Facebook page.
- Musicians also perform at music festivals in Roosevelt Center that are sponsored by the New Deal Cafe.
- The Labor Day Festival hires bands.
- The Greenbelt Arts Center can be rented for self-produced concerts.
Writing
- The Greenbelt Online Blog welcomes all short-form writing by Greenbelt residents and businesses, including features, movie reviews, opinion, poetry and short stories. Email editor@greenbeltonline.org.
- The Greenbelt News Review, published weekly since November, 1937, is written and put together almost entirely by volunteers. The paper offers many opportunities for writers wanting to use their writing skills in a journalistic context. The News Review also has openings for copy editors, email screeners, proof-readers, and editorial cartoonists. For more information about how to get involved, write the editor at editor@greenbeltnewsreview.com or drop by the newsroom during office hours on Tuesdays between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. or between 7:30 and 9 p.m. They’re located in Suite 100 of the Greenbelt Community Center.
- Poetry Open Mic is a great monthly event at the New Deal Cafe – the third Saturday of each month from 1 to 3. Read originals, OPP (other people’s poetry) or just hob nob with the literary. Everyone is welcome.
- Poetry moment is a public performance piece outside the New Deal Cafe.
- Interested in the Greenbelt Writers Group? Contact person is Barbara Ford, barb.ford@comcast.net.
- The Iguana Review, founded in 2003, is an independent literary magazine based in Old Greenbelt, MD. Favorites from prior issues are republished at Greenbelt Online – here and here, so far.
Visual Arts
- Art on the Walls is the program that features new art on the walls of the New Deal Cafe every month. Afternoon artist receptions introduce the artists to the community and potential buyers. Click here for info about having your art displayed at the Cafe.The art exhibits are mounted by the New Deal Cafe Art Committee and sponsored by the Friends of New Deal Cafe Arts with support from Prince George’s County. (Tax-deductible donations to FONDCA supports art at the Cafe.)
- The yearly Festival of Lights Juried Art and Craft Fair is sponsored by the City of Greenbelt. (Sign up to receive the Artfans e-newsletter for program information and artist opportunities as they are announced.)
- The city regularly displays art in the Community Center and Aquatic and Fitness Center. Learn more here.
- The Labor Day Festival includes community art and photo shows and a craft fair
- Regular exhibit spaces include the Greenbelt Arts Center lobby, a display case at the Greenbelt Branch Library, and Business Gate.
- Art works are sold at holiday bazaars at the Greenbelt Community Church and American Legion.
- In May, crafts are sold at the Green Man Festival sponsored by CHEARS.
Also for Visual Artists, through the City of Greenbelt arts program, are: Studio space, exhibitions, and monthly Art Shares.
Films/Videos
- Greenbelt’s own Utopia Film Festival reviews submissions of short or feature-length films, either
documentary or scripted. Click here submit.
- Greenbelt Access Television provides opportunities to produce original content for the channel.
- The Old Greenbelt Theatre may be rented by local filmmakers to screen their work. Click here for rental rates and policies.
Theater
- The Greenbelt Arts Center is a black box theater in Roosevelt Center. (Details of opportunities coming soon.)
Resources and More from the City of Greenbelt Arts
The City of Greenbelt is a model municipality in its support of the arts, and an integral area of service within the Greenbelt Recreation Department.
The City of Greenbelt arts program welcomes proposals for family-friendly performances with a visual aspect (generally not bands) for arts events. Contact ndewald@greenbeltmd.gov. (More info about city programs coming soon.)
City-Provided Resources and Opportunities for Artists:
- Artist in Residence Program (visual artists studio space)
- Classes and Workshops
- Dance Studio
- Recreation Activity Guide
- Registration Information
- School Programs
- Scout Workshops
- Exhibitions
- Festival of Lights Art and Craft Fair
- Performance Bookings
- Teaching
City Arts Events for the Public
Monthly Artful Afternoons, Monthly Arts Share, Parents Night Out, Community Art Drop-in, Festival of Lights Juried Art and Craft Fair the first weekend in December, and you can Book a Workshop for your Group.
From Greenbelt Access Television (GATe)
Learn
Greenbelt Access Television is a non-profit organization chartered by the City of Greenbelt to bring public access television to the Greenbelt area. It offers classes in a variety of TV production related subjects. If you want to learn to use our equipment in order to borrow it, you can take the Canon XF305 Camera Class. If you’d like to learn how to edit your footage, take one of our editing classes: Final Cut or Adobe Premiere Pro. Interested in animation? Mr. Geo offers several animation classes to students through GAVA at GATe studios. Class schedule.
Create
When you become a member of GATe (and attend orientation and a camera class) you have the benefit of being able to borrow equipment and resources in order to start your own productions. Make content you’d like to share with the community!
From the Greenbelt Association for the Visual Arts
GAVA offers painting, block printing, and comic book art classes at Mowatt Church for home-school and after-school students during the academic year. Also offered are quarterly sessions of GAVA/GATE Animation Classes for youth 7-18 years-old – with additional classes for home-schoolers and special needs teens.
From Friends of New Deal Cafe Arts
Friends of New Deal Cafe Arts (FONDCA) sponsors the visual, performing and literary arts at the New Deal Cafe and in Roosevelt Center. FONDCA provides funding for the popular outdoor festival events in Roosevelt Center, such as the Crazy Quilt festival, the Blues Festival, the Drum Festival and Jazz Under the Stars concert. Within the Cafe FONDCA sponsors the art shows and artist receptions, the Poetry Moment project and the annual Poetry Moment reception, and special events such as book signings, CD release parties, Beech Tree Puppet Performances and the Greenbelt Artists Studio Tours.
Here on Greenbelt Online: Greenbelt’s Arts Directory
The benefits of getting listed:
- Get gigs! Sell books! You get your own page here that can serve as your main web presence, with your own domain forwarded to it.
- Network with other Greenbelt creatives.
- Show your support for the creative community of Greenbelt. A full arts directory will attract media attention and lead to more creatives coming here to live or to do their art. (Even if you’re not selling your services or artwork.)
It’s FREE, and Greenbelt Online will do it FOR you. You can then log in and update your listing any time you want. Click here to get started.
Greenbelt-Based Bloggers are invited to join the “Greenbelt Blogroll” in the sidebar of our blog. Check out who’s there.
At the Gateway Arts District
Greenbelt residents who work or show their art within the Gateway Arts District (Hyattsville, North Brentwood, Brentwood, and Mount Rainier along Route 1) are welcome to join their free Gateway Artists Directory. Artists and artisans do not need to have studios to join. Learn more about how the directory works on their Frequently Asked Questions.
Benefits to Artists
- Pay no state income tax on works produced and sold in the Gateway Arts District – see details
- Business skills workshops specifically geared to artists
- Artists Directory listing for your portfolio + resume
- Assistance in locating affordable studio space
- Access to prominent presentation venues: the Annual Open Studios Tour, the Annual Downtown Hyattsville Arts Festival, Gateway Arts Center Programs and more
- Find a studio for lease on our Studio Locator: sort by price range, square footage, utilities and find photos
More Resources for All
More Directories/Portfolios – get listed to increase your visibility to curators and prospective patrons and audiences:
Funding Opportunities
Local: Greenbelt Community Foundation (grants); Greenbelt Recreation Group program (grants for Greenbelt-based organizations); Jim Cassels Award (Greenbelt Consumer Coop)
County: Prince George’s Arts and Humanities Council (grants for individuals and organizations)
State: Maryland State Arts Council (grants for individuals and organizations)
Regional: Anacostia Trails Heritage Area (“rocket grants); Baker Artist Awards; Sondheim Prize; Trawick Prize; The Foundation Center DC (for training and research).
More Resources
Maryland Nonprofits (Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations):
- Training sessions and print materials offered in several areas including: non-profit start up, board development, volunteer management, membership cultivation, financial management, IT issues.
- Benefits for member organizations including discounts on insurance and professional services
Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington:
- Arts management workshops in areas such as: marketing, fundraising, financial management, human resources
- Benefits for member organizations including: pro-bono consulting services through Business Volunteers for the Arts; health care program
- Arts Job Bank
Maryland Lawyers for the Arts:
- Legal services for artists and arts organizations. Small administrative fees apply.
- MLA Arts Brief quarterly e-newsletter. Archive available online.
Gateway Arts District has more resources about art suppliers, studios for lease, a press outreach kit, plus an assortment of tax credits (some for everyone, and others for Gateway Arts District members.)