It’s time once again to honor the creative community of the nation’s capital.
The 35th annual D.C. Mayor’s Arts Awards will be held Wednesday at 7 p.m.
“The purpose is to celebrate all of the incredible creative activity that is happening here in Washington, D.C.,” Creative Affairs Office Associate Director Maryann Lombardi told WTOP. “Our city is really rife with creativity, with artists, with artisans, with people that are contributing to the really cool, killer place that it is to live and be here.”
The event will be held at the Park Up D.C. drive-in location outside RFK Stadium, or you can stream it from the comfort of your own home on Facebook and YouTube.
Categories include Excellence in Arts Education, Community Arts Advocacy, Creative Nightlife Economy, Media Arts, Humanities, Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Visionary Leadership Award, Emerging Creative Award and the Larry Neal Writer’s Award.
“We launched last year the opportunity for the public to choose,” Lombardi said. “They could go on the website and nominate people. Those top three nominations went on to the voting round, then the public could sign on and vote for who they wanted to win.”
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser will present the awards, alongside guest presenters Laz Alonso, Charity Blackwell, Marcus Allen, Leon Harris, Carl Ray and Shawn Townsend.
You can also enjoy live music performances by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, Gallaudet University, Be’La Dona, Chaz French, Laura Schwartz, Malik Dope, Tommy T featuring Mahmoud Ahmed, and Konshens the MC featuring Classically Dope.
The entire thing will be hosted by Tommy Davidson.
“If you don’t know Tommy Davidson, you’re going to know him after this award show,” Lombardi said. “We’re super excited that Tommy is hosting the award show for us. It’s gonna be a lot of fun and we can’t wait for you to see it.”
