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 2023 included:

• The opening of the first-ever live-music venue in NoMa: Nice and Easy, a bluegrass bar and lounge with weekly performances. 
• Delivering a year-long slate of arts activations and events, including the new signature event campaign NoMa in Color, which included a reimagined mural festival and six weeks of arts-infused pop-ups, neighborhood activations, music, and film. 
• Partnering with DC Fray to create NoMa Nights, a monthly series of live music performances. 
• Ensuring that live music has a place at many NoMa events, including NoMa in Bloom, the weekly Farmers Market, and PumpkinPalooza. 
• Providing Mosaic Theater on nearby H Street free vendor space at BID-sponsored events to help promote their brand and upcoming productions. 
• Commissioning a new mural by Jesse Kirsch titled “No Way” for the wall of the Marriott Courtyard overlooking the Metropolitan Branch Trail. 
• 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 an exhibition from local art cooperative STABLEArts called The New Eagle Creek Saloon, sponsoring BID-based firm Hickok Cole’s annual Art Night, relying on local businesses for the NoMa in Color mural festival, and more. 
• 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. 
• With the NoMa Parks Foundation, repairing and restoring the light-art sculpture Lightweave to full operation. 
• With the NoMa Parks Foundation, opening the third Underpass Art Installation, the K Street Virtual Gallery, a unique projected-art exhibition space in the K Street underpass. 
• 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 2024 will include:

• Enhancing activation spaces to accommodate use in all seasons. 
• Exploring opportunities to further connect community stakeholders to spaces for independent activation. 
• Building stronger relationships with building managers and retailers. 
• Launching the event library—a collection of BID-owned assets for use in community events. 
• Bringing back holiday lighting and/or activation to NoMa. 
• Exploring the placemaking possibilities for the former site of the Kaiser Permanente building at L Street.