Anacostia Arts Center Family Photo
Inspired by the iconic 1958 Art Kane photo, "A Great Day in Harlem," The Dap Project gathered over fifty artists, creatives, entrepreneurs, community members and leaders on July 13, 2025 to the Black Box Theatre to take a first-of-its-kind photo memorializing their love and commitment to the Anacostia Art Center.
Photo credit: Edward Underwood for The Dap Project
The Anacostia Arts Center has welcomed countless people into its gallery, retail spaces, and HIVE offices to showcase art, perform their work, host a conference, or grow their business.
How can we take a single family photo?
We started with asking a few people close to the center if they thought the photo was possible, and what the experience might include. Then, we advertised the experience online: everyone was welcomed, as typical with Arts Center events.
Initially, traction was a little slow, perhaps due to the event being advertised as a "Family Photo." What, exactly, did that mean? A family photo like you might take with your parents and siblings at a department store?
Through one-on-one conversations, text messages, and live conversations, the purpose became clear. A video by Jess Randolph clarified what we were trying to do, and another video by Kymone Freeman explained the dress code.
The confirmations rolled in.
As, on the day of, did the clouds. Now, we had had rainstorms all week, and watched the weather forecast carefully. A forty percent chance of rain turned into one-hundred percent chance of rain thirty minutes before the event start time. A fat, grey cloud sat over I-295, visible from the Arts Center floor-to-ceiling windows, and emptied its condensation over Anacostia.
We accepted that we had no idea how the day would unfold, despite the meticulous, minute-by-minute planning.
Then a text message: "I'm coming after the storm clears." And more messages to the same effect.
About ninety minutes after the first rain drop, we gathered in the Black Box Theatre, and smiled all of our love into the camera.