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In His Own Words
David Fogel:
The Pied Piper of South Silver Spring
If you didn't know that there was life beyond Silver Sprung then you probably aren't on David Fogel's Gateway email list. David's official title is Montgomery County Project Manager of the Gateway Georgia Avenue Revitalization Corporation, but I prefer to think of him as the cultural pied piper of South Silver Spring.
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Photo: Richard Jaeggi
David Fogel |
Every month David invites his list to join him for a Progressive Artwalk; starting out at the Heliport gallery in the old Gramax building, he leads his gaggle of art-lovers on a walking tour of the growing repertoire of cultural venues just south of Sprung.
For the last three years David Fogel has led the Gateway corporation's effort to use Silver Spring's Art and Entertainment designation as a tool for revitalizing South Silver Spring. Recently I interviewed David in the Heliport Gallery. Here are some of his thoughts.
On influences
My family is probably the greatest influence on my life. My mother is the co-founder of what is now Imagination Stage in Bethesda. It is interesting growing up in Bethesda and growing up in a theater company; I didn't necessarily begin to understand its impact on me until I began to get a little bit older. But being surrounded by those types of people, a very diverse population, a very creative population, a very important population, has impacted me immensely. I think it helped me evolve as somebody with broad perspective, a holistic perspective.
On community planning
My planning perspective is that you need to focus on the treasure of the place and whatever the stakeholders' energy is amassing around. Whenever I work in any community I seek out that angle.
On South Silver Spring
There is a real desire for this community to remain a unique place. We are looking forward to an increase in vibrancy and an increase in walkability.
On Gateway Georgia Avenue Revitalization Corporation
My focus, as the program manager of Montgomery County, has been to cultivate the cultural infrastructure here in South Silver Spring. One of the things I was hired two and a half years ago [was to] focus the organization on aiding the Arts and Entertainment District. Gateway, being a community based organization, we realized that this took a lot of stakeholders [pulling] together: from the business community, the residential community, the political community, the institutional community....
On the Artwalk series
We have been doing this Artwalk series for almost three years now and there have been a couple times when just walking down the street with a group of people in an area that was thought of as a place you don't go after 7 o'clock, and there we were marching down the street in complete comfort, and happiness. There was a tap dancer on the street and we were being lead by a saxophone player.... And just being able to see the power of art in bringing people out and making people comfortable and helping the business community as well.
On the Heliport Gallery
Recently, with the opening of the Heliport Gallery we had nearly 300 people come out here. We had at least two different languages being spoken. I saw people in their late seventies and I saw newborns. It was really incredible. It was a testament to Silver Spring.
On Art in Transition
The other night [was] the first kick off party for the Art in Transition series where we work with developers and property owners who have vacant space and we pair them up with curators to occupy those spaces for a month. It is part of a symbiotic relationship in that it helps the artist show their work, it helps the community in bringing people who otherwise might not come to the area... and it helps the property owner and developer in the sense that they are getting to show their space to a potential tenant or buyer.
On art
I grew up in the art world. I acted my entire life until I was eighteen... in college I used to play bass guitar in a band; in Japan I played bass guitar in two bands. But since I came back to the states I have focused on electronic music. I look at a DJ as the acoustic guitar player of the twenty first century. You can walk anywhere in the world with your bag of CDs and as long as the equipment is there you can ply your talent. It would be interesting to see what Bob Dylan would say to that.
On art and community
I know about and believe in art projects that incorporate the community in the creation phase. I have seen the power of art in developing community in various ways. One of the things we are trying to do with the Gateway Heliport Gallery is to create a space that is very inclusive of the entire community. Welcoming. We want this to be a gallery where people feel like it is theirs. People take pride in it; people come in here and show it to others.
On art as a development tool
Art as a community development tool is very powerful. Art is a great way in all of its mediums to help us dig a little deeper... The arts can also lead to a lot of civic pride. If you have a piece of art you can point to and say, "turn left at the sculpture," [these] become landmarks. They become an incredible piece of the community fabric.
Art and sense of place
Art helps define a place. It helps create a sense of identity. It helps us say that our community is unique. And the power of that is it creates buy-in and leads to establishing a place that people don't want to leave, a place they really love.
The next Progressive Artwalk will meet on July 12 th at 6 P.M. at the Heliport Gallery. To get on the Gateway listserve send an email to David Fogel, david@gatewaycdc.com
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