The next chapter of NoMa’s story will be cultural, told in the imaginations of residents, workers, and visitors. It will be written with murals and sculpture, streetscapes and projection art, music and movie nights, and in the communities that flourish here.

Central to this story is the establishment of a cultural “anchor” location in the neighborhood, a focal point for the ongoing cultural conversation in NoMa. While the form and function of such a space will ultimately be determined by that conversation, the need for such a space is clear, and the groundwork necessary for its creation has begun.

Progress on this initiative in 2024 included:

• The opening of a new live music venue in NoMa, Nice & Easy, a bluegrass bar and lounge with weekly performances.
• Delivering a year-long slate of arts activations and events, including the second year of the signature event campaign NoMa in Color, which included a reimagined mural festival focused on a diverse slate of DMV-area artists.
• Expanding the annual concert series with the partnership of Songbyrd Music House to create the new Sunset Sounds series that brought live music to Alethia Tanner Park every Tuesday for 10 weeks.
• Partnering with arts non-profits and cultural organizations, including DC Home Rule Music Festival, the Kennedy Center, Visionaries of the Creative Arts (VOCA), and District Coalition to bring live concerts featuring diverse musical genres including go-go, jazz, soul, and cumbia, to both Alethia Tanner Park and Swampoodle Terrace Park.
• Ensuring that live music has a place at many NoMa events, including NoMa in Bloom, the weekly Farmers Market, and PumpkinPalooza.
• Providing Mosaic Theater free vendor space at BID-sponsored events to help promote their brand and upcoming productions.
• Celebrating the inclusion of wall art on newly delivered buildings, showing how NoMa’s arts reputation has begun influencing developers.
• Nurturing and growing arts support from local businesses, including sponsoring STABLE Arts 5th Anniversary and an independent film festival, District Dreamers.
• Supporting Eckington Hall, the unique art gallery and flexible creative and event space launched by David Ross, a local Black entrepreneur, through social media promotion and paid sponsorship.
• Cultivating relationships with NPR, which sponsored NoMa’s 2022 D.C. Walls mural festival, and exploring future partnerships and ways to engage local talent and bring live programming to NoMa.
• Finalizing a new mission and strategy for the NoMa Parks Foundation emphasizing community engagement and stewardship of NoMa’s parks.
• Collaborating with NoMa employer Hickok Cole architects by supporting their annual arts fundraiser to benefit Washington Project for the Arts.

Targeted work on this initiative for 2025 will include:

• Proactive relationship building with outside partners to bring events and activations to the neighborhood.
• Working with District Coalition to bring the “No Strings Attached” concert to Alethia Tanner Park, with grant funding provided by the DC Commission on Arts & Humanities.
• Developing arts and culture events and activations such as NoMa in Color.
• Continuing the Sunset Sounds free summer concert series at Alethia Tanner Park.
• Engaging with theater groups like Mosaic Theater.