DC's Art All Night Festival puts the 'art' in party

The celebration of the District's visual and performing arts started in 2011 as "Art All Night: Nuit Blanche DC" by the Shaw Main Streets. Organizers say that since then, the celebration has expanded to neighborhoods across with city with over 180,000 attendees.

"We know that Washington, DC is the capital of creativity. Artists and makers across DC help us celebrate the history and culture of our community, and this weekend we celebrate them," Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a statement. 

On Friday night, events were held in Barracks Row, Georgetown, Petworth, Glover Park, Mount Pleasant, Rhode Island Avenue, Uptown, Cleveland Park, Eastern Market, Pennsylvania Avenue East, and Upper Bladensburg Road. 

Some locations, like Glover Park in Northwest D.C., moved their celebration indoors. A series of bands performed inside a covered parking lot to avoid rain. 

In Petworth, a dance crew turned the sidewalk on Upshur Street Northwest into a dance floor. Dimitria Satterwhite was among the participants that said dancing brings them joy. "I just want to make sure that I am getting everything correct and just having a great time because I have 10 to 12 line dances in my head," Satterwhite told WUSA9. 

Inside the Art of Noize art gallery, D.C.-based contemporary artist Maurice James Jr. was closing out his most recent exhibit titled, "The New Negro: Manifest Destiny." Through his work, James Jr. says he seeks to intertwine iconic American pop culture references with powerful Black images to promote Black Love, Black Beauty, and Black Power. When asked what he wanted people to take from his art, James Jr. said, "Just the ingenuity of Black people. This is really about architecture, engineering, and design,  and just the possibilities of what the future could look like if built correctly."

In Ward 7's Pennsylvania Avenue East neighborhood, organizers honed in on growing the business community by creating entertainment hubs. "The community loves it, right, because they don't have to leave their community. They don't have to go downtown to the clubs or other events where you really think the majority of these types of events happen. It's right here in our neighborhood, Ward 7, Pennsylvania Avenue Southeast," Latisha Atkins, Director of Pennsylvania Avenue East Main Street told WUSA9. 

Art All Night is a collaboration between the DC Department of Small and Local Business Development (DLSBD), the DC Main Street Streets programs, the Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), and other District agencies. The festival is intended to also be a catalyst for corridor revitalization for the participating neighborhoods. 

The President of the Marshall Heights Community Development Organization, Babatunde Oloyede, says that by including the local businesses, they hope to establish a loyal clientele. "They come back. It's all about the economic opportunity, scalability, growing and supporting these businesses," he said. 

Inside of Miss Toya's Southern Kitchen, it was a packed house with several performers including singer Alex Vaughn. 

For native Washingtonian Earl Williams, the festival is also a reminder about the vibrancy of his community. "On this side of the river, that there are great opportunities for entertainment, for food, and just to have a good time," Williams said. 

Art All Night will continue Saturday night in Congress Heights, Lower Georgia Avenue, The Parks, Dupont Circle, H Street, Shaw, U Street, Logan Circle, and Tenleytown.