The mission of the Ward 7 Arts Collaborative is to foster awareness of, support for, and participation in the arts among community residents and visitors of all ages, and to preserve and enhance our local community’s cultural and entertainment heritage.
The Mission
The Ward 7 Arts Collaborative provides and supports numerous opportunities for local artists to showcase their work in the ward, the city, and beyond. We sponsor an annual Black History Month arts program organize art exhibits at community meetings and festivals, such as the State of the Ward address and the Chesapeake Bagel Bakery’s 10th anniversary celebration and support literary, dramatic, and musical presentations of all kinds. We highlight the works of artists at all levels: student, emerging, and professional.
About W7AC
Arts Advocacy
Capacity Building
We are the Ward 7 Arts Collaborative…we are artists, arts supporters, promoters, businesses, and nonprofit organizations who believe in the power of the arts to spiritually, physically, mentally and financially empower individuals and entire communities!
Showcasing
For the Arts Collaborative, it means empowering artists to move from where they are today to where they dream of being tomorrow. At times, this calls for structured workshops, training sessions, and conferences. But we also seek to understand the practical needs of individual artists and help them locate the necessary resources. For some, it’s money. For others, it’s a name and phone number. For still others, it’s helping them develop the technical skills that will make them more competitive applicants for exhibitions, fellowships, and grants. By sharing information and skills, we all come out as winners.
The Smothers Dance Troup
Julia Jones and Wanda Aikens
From City Hall to our neighborhood blocks, the Collaborative is always raising the public’s awareness of the crucial role the arts play in our personal and social development. We work with nonprofit groups and arts administrators to ensure that public arts programs in our neighborhoods reflect the residents’ culture, values, and artistic sensibilities. We also use our voice to increase the visibility of the individual artists among us on local, national, and international levels.
