Located at the northern end of Anne Arundel County, the Chesapeake Arts Center (CAC) meets a diverse set of artistic and cultural needs for the community. It also brings smiles to new dancers, pride to new musicians, applause to veteran performers and enjoyment in many ways.
The CAC is the home of the 816-seat Hammonds Lane Theatre which, during certain months, can be booked every single night of the week for dance recitals, graduations, business meetings, theater productions and music concerts.
It also houses the 120-seat Studio 194 Theatre, which provides a more intimate artistic experience with seats that are placed in a semi-circle around the stage. This is where CAC’s Family Series — where grandparents, kids and parents can enjoy a live show together — takes place. It is also where the “Music of the Mid-Atlantic” series happens featuring the best of regional folk, country, blues, bluegrass and world beat musicians.
The Studio 194 Theatre is also used for lectures, comedy shows, one-person shows, musical rehearsals and many local theater productions.
There is a ceramics studio used by students taking pottery classes or rented as open studio time; classrooms used for private music instruction and for art classes; and two dance studios used for dance classes and for rehearsals by area dance studios. Also under roof is a gallery space that features five to six exhibits by area visual artists each year.
How well used is CAC? In fiscal ’10, it hosted 126 performances, 115 meetings or rehearsals and 43 arts instruction classes which attracted more than 55,000 people to participate in the arts.
Another consideration is that 45 community groups rented the CAC for their programs, and CAC itself directly presented 23 shows.
CAC received recent notification that it has been awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) so that it can create a five-part mural along the side of Hammonds Lane Theatre. The mural, entitled, “Reflect on Our Heritages,” will be created by a professional artist working with students from Brooklyn Park Middle School who will learn about the history of the community while creating a new piece of public art.
The theme will be carried out on five panels, each dedicated to the industries that brought its population to Brooklyn Park: agriculture, maritime, aviation, technology, and now, the arts. The CAC believes that “Reflect on Our Heritages” will focus local pride in the area.
“Receiving the NEA grant is a great honor, and it is also a challenge,” said Davina Grace Hill, executive director of CAC. “The $10,000 award must be matched one-to-one, and we hope this will be an opportunity to introduce ourselves to more of the business community in our area, allowing us to forge closer bonds with the maritime, aviation and technology corporations in our midst. A fundraising campaign will take off, set sail and boot up in the very near future.”
Integration into the area’s rich world of commerce is also the wish of Lou Zagarino, president of Whitehall Management Group and CAC board member.
“Being involved in the Chesapeake Arts Center from the beginning allows me to appreciate the great strides we are making with this fantastic mural project,” said Zagarino. “This mural will provide us a way to both honor the accomplishments while bringing attention to current artistic and educational pursuits. We believe the local business community will respond very favorably to this project that merges artistic, economic and educational pursuits into one project.”
Upcoming Events
• Pasadena Theatre Company presents “Lend Me A Tenor”; June 10–11–12, 17–18
• Edna Lee Dance Recital; June 11
• Sparks Dance Recital; June 12
• IATSE Union Meeting; June 12
• Brooklyn Park Middle School Graduation; June 14
• Leadership Anne Arundel Board Retreat; June 17
• Susan Ina Dance Recital; June 17–18
• Academy of Performing Arts; June 19
• Maryland Center for the Performing Arts; June 25
• Maryland State Arts Council Artists Workshop; June 29
• Harbor City Music Co. (a Sweet Adelines chorus) rehearses at the CAC every Wednesday night and welcomes new members.
