An innovative new space dedicated to local folk artists is expected to open next year at the Sandy Spring Museum, according to officials.
The museum at 17901 Bentley Road will host a groundbreaking event for the construction of a new Cultural Heritage Hub from 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday. The event and upcoming $2 million addition are intended to bolster underserved and underrepresented traditional artists in Montgomery County, museum officials said this week.
Those attending the groundbreaking are expected to include state Sen. Craig Zucker (D-Dist. 14), Montgomery County councilmembers Evan Glass (D-At-large) and Will Jawando (D-At-large), and possibly U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Dist. 8), according to the museum.
“Montgomery County is one of the most diverse communities in the nation, and we are stronger for it,” Glass said in a statement to MoCo360. “The Cultural Heritage Hub will be another exciting way to celebrate the multitude of cultures in our community. I look forward to the groundbreaking and eventual opening.”
According to a museum press release, the Cultural Heritage Hub was “designed with the input of local folk artists.” It will feature a new indoor studio space and outdoor amphitheater, representing the first capital expansion of the museum since 2007.
Sandy Spring Museum Executive Director Allison Weiss said Friday the target completion date for the addition is December, with a grand opening scheduled for January 2025.
Measuring an estimated 1,700 square feet, the hub will cost about $2 million, according to Weiss. Most of the funding for the space has been provided by grants from “six to eight organizations” and several individual donors also contributed, she said.
“The fundraising process was probably about a two-year period,” Weiss said. “But the planning process has been years in the making.”
According to the museum, many artists involved in the Hub “are immigrants and/or people of color.”
“There [are] a whole bunch of different groups that we work with,” Weiss said. “We work with Puerto Rican groups, Cambodian groups, Thai groups, Hungarian, Ukrainian … groups that tend to be underserved by the larger cultural arts organizations, and none of them have their own spaces in which to rehearse or perform.”
Weiss said she can already anticipate future events to be held at the hub, but added that the lineup of acts should take shape naturally.
“We can foresee something like a drumming festival, where drumming traditions from all over the place can be brought together in this space,” she said. “We see it as something really organic–we’re not going to be programming the space as much as we want people to be coming in and using [it].”
“Our model of operating is that we don’t tell people what to do–we want people to generate the ideas and then we’ll support them in doing those ideas,” she continued.
Weiss said she encourages folk or traditional artists to reach out to the museum for opportunities moving forward. She added that the museum is going to establish an online portal for scheduling purposes.
“I think what we’re going to do is have an online–like an app, almost–that people are going to use [where] they can schedule use of the space,” she said.
Sunday’s groundbreaking event is free and open to the public. It will feature speeches and a performance by a Polynesian arts group, according to the museum.
Food trucks and locally made drinks such as pitorro from the Puerto Rico Distillery in Frederick and beer from Elder Pine Brewing & Blending Co. in Gaithersburg will be available for purchase.