Artisphere Celebrates First Birthday

This weekend celebrated its first birthday with two days of community programming and events.

“This is a celebration of not just a space, but a real risk that Arlington has taken and a real investment that the community has gotten behind,” said Ryan Holladay, Artisphere’s new media curator.

The Rosslyn art center has certainly been an investment for the Arlington community. A year after beginning operations, Artisphere amassed an that taxpayers are shouldering. Artisphere’s higher-ups are currently in the process of analyzing and reconfiguring their business model.

“We’re really re-evaluating every part of our operation,” said Jose Ortiz, executive director of Artisphere. “I think that there were some assumptions made in the original plan that aren’t really realistic.”

Ortiz is working to reduce the deficit despite the tremendous fixed costs of maintaining Artisphere's facility. Several ways to diversify revenue streams are under consideration, including shortening the center’s hours, fundraising and taking maximum monetary advantage of special events and rentals.

Originally, the art center was intended to become an independent nonprofit organization after three years of operation. But this timeline was based on the assumption that Artisphere would succeed financially in its first year.

Ortiz and others with a vested interest in the center are now discussing whether this timeframe is still possible.

Despite the financial strain, though, Saturday evening’s soiree proved that Artisphere has its share of fans.

“The events themselves are great,” said Arlington resident Terra Deskins. “I just wish there was more turnout.”

The weekend’s festivities captured the spirit of the center’s diverse and extensive programming. Saturday’s birthday bash included an interactive mural project, a comedy variety show and several live musical performances. Sunday’s family-friendly open house featured salsa lessons, shadow puppets and face painting.

The centerpiece of the weekend was the lighting of the dome atop the Artisphere building.

Throughout Saturday evening, a video installation named "Orbit," by artist and cinematographer Brian Stansfield, was projected onto the dome for all of Rosslyn to see.

“It is such a unique structure and just an incredible canvas,” Holladay said. “We definitely wanted to go big and we wanted to make this a party that was really something special and memorable.”