Van Ness Main Street wins ANC matching grant for public art installation

$23,500 down, $46,500 to go.

Van Ness Main Street (VNMS) will receive a special projects award of $23,500 from ANC 3F for the first of three planned public art installations.

The commissioners voted on and announced the award at their June 19th meeting.

This funding is a matching grant and will be awarded when Van Ness Main Street raises additional funds. The total needed for the first installations is $70,000. This includes the cost of maintaining the structure, which will be located at the southwest corner of Connecticut Avenue and Windom Place. VNMS is in the process of putting together a plan to raise the additional $46,500.

This is a model of After Architecture’s design, which can be modified for each of the three planned installations along Connecticut Avenue between Van Ness and Albemarle Streets.

Van Ness Main Street put out the call for artists about a year ago and selected After Architecture from three finalists this spring.

The design team visualizes climbing vines and historic markers rising up the posts, holiday lights strung along the overhead canopy, and seating for the area’s residents, students and diplomats.