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As Blossoms Arrive, a Moment with Diana Mayhew

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The National Cherry Blossom Festival kicks off tomorrow, commemorating Japan’s gift of 3,000 Yoshino cherry trees to the city 99 years ago. The Festival is a grand two-week affair that draws over a million people annually, with a diverse range of events all across the District.

Key to the success of this yearly event for the last decade has been NCBF President Diana Mayhew, who took over the helm in 2000 as Executive Director and then in 2007 as President. When she arrived, the Festival was an all-volunteer organization (begun in 1927) and its vision was to ensure that there was year-round, consistent staffing to ensure the growth, quality, and consistency of events. “We also help show the world that Washington, DC is synonymous with spring,” Mayhew told me. “There was a need to provide consistent services to residents and visitors interested in attending Festival events and there was no central communication.” The Downtown DC Business Improvement District (BID) donated the salary of an Executive Director for three years until the Festival got up on its feet, implementing fundraising and sponsorships to support itself and the cost of programming, which is offered free to the public.

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Special Events, The Daily Feed

Artist Anne Marchand’s Luminous

Photo courtesy of
‘Walkthrough Art’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

The Crystal City BID’s ARTFUL Program, which hopes to share with people the influence that art can have over public spaces, is currently exhibiting Lumnious by Washington, DC -based artist Anne Marchand.  Marchand’s Luminous exhibition features eight large, mixed media canvases inspired by a combination of mystical poetry and images taken from the Hubble Space Telescope – where “art and the universe merge”.

Luminous is open until April 26 and is supported by The Crystal City Business Improvement District (BID) in partnership with Vornado/Charles E. Smith.

The exhibition is located at 2231 Crystal Drive.

There is also an opening reception for the exhibit tomorrow, March 24th – Please RSVP at rsvp[at]crystalcity.org.