An Art All Night 2023 sneak peek: Song! Dance! Kojo!

The Van Ness Art All Night promotional projection at 4444 Connecticut. (Van Ness Main Street photo)

Well, it’s not the sneakiest of peeks. Van Ness Main Street has kept a running list of its September 29th Art All Night events and participants, all publicly available, for over a month. And last month, we wrote the “Four things to know about Art All Night 2023” in Van Ness, Tenleytown and Cleveland Park. But we want to share a few new additions and other items that caught our eye.

(And here’s where we remind you that Forest Hills Connection is an editorially independent program of Van Ness Main Street. They did not ask us to promote the event.)

A new Van Ness Art All Night partner: WAMU/DCist is headquartered at 4401 Connecticut, and for the first time, the public radio station and online news provider is partnering with VNMS to bring us the events of the night. WAMU is also offering station tours, some free stickers and other swag, and a chance to meet three of its personalities: longtime talk show host Kojo Nnamdi, morning news anchor Tamika Smith, and Rob Bamberger, the host of Hot Jazz Saturday Night. (When we wrote this, there were still a couple of spots left on the 8:15 p.m. tour. Act quickly if you’re interested.) You can also support WAMU and its mission by purchasing promotional items from its “yard sale.”

New venues and performers: At the northern end of Van Ness Main Street’s Connecticut Avenue territory, Chevy Chase Art Gallery is hosting an open house featuring local artists, wine and cheese, and live music. R&B singer Beauty Marsh will perform outside of EM Nail and Lash at 5012 Connecticut. Italian Bar at 5008 Connecticut hosts Ken Matthews of Laissez Foure Jazz Solo.

Making encore appearances: The Art All Night Pop-up Market features three dozen local artists and vendors. Mariachi Sol de America performs outside at Muchas Gracias. Singing Capital Chorus returns to the Park Van Ness rotunda. Flavor Garden hosts a UDC JAZZAlive trio on its patio. Crush Funk Brass Band transforms the Calvert Woodley parking lot into a dance floor. The Bread Furst patio pop-up sells hot cider and mulled wine, apple cider donuts, and pizza. And DC Pedicabs takes you from the northern venues to the south, and back again.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Van Ness Main Street (@vannessmainst)

For the kids and kids at heart: Ian the Balloon Dude is creating at the Van Ness Art All Night welcome table at 4340 Connecticut Avenue. Make your mark on the Interactive Media Mural in the “Art Alley” nearby. And a children’s author is reading and entertaining at Politics and Prose.

How you can contribute: Van Ness Main Street needs volunteers to help with setup, teardown, and staffing the events in between.

There’s more where this came from. See the full list of venues, performers and vendors here, and RSVP on Eventbrite to receive updates as they come in.