In December 2003, the Cultural Development Corporation opened Flashpoint, an arts incubator that offers strategic business services and affordable arts and office space in a funky, modern setting. At Flashpoint, CuDC offers a contemporary art gallery, 75-seat theatre lab, and dance studio to DC-area artists and cultural organizations and offers much-needed management consulting services.

The space bustles with energy. Students enliven the Coors Dance Studio, keeping pace to hiphop, jazz, and ballet. Set designers create a trailer park ravaged by a tornado, and actors rehearse tirelessly in preparation for the opening of a new play in the Mead Theatre Lab. Curious passersby join artists and patrons to explore the latest exhibit on view in the Gallery. All the while, CuDC is the backbone that manages the program, from maintaining a shared hi-speed network to working one-on-one with each artist or organization who uses the facility.

The Flashpoint Project: Strengthening Our Community
Since its inception in 1998, CuDC has facilitated economic development, community building, and neighborhood revitalization throughout the District of Columbia by creating partnerships between the arts and business communities to stimulate economic activity and improve quality of life. Flashpoint is a key component in our efforts to establish Washington as a place where small arts organizations can grow and flourish and where residents can experience exciting new work by members of the city's creative community. Through Flashpoint, CuDC has dramatically expanded its programming and scope of services to include management support and affordable space, thereby encouraging the creative development of many DC area artists and arts organizations.

Flashpoint Resident Organizations
One in Ten
Maru Montero Dance Company
Sol & Soul
Solas Nua
Washington Stage Guild

For more information, check out www.flashpointdc.org.

Photo copyright Tom Kochel 2005