Home > Newsroom > Golden Triangle Arts Exhibition Encourages Safe Outdoor Interaction Along Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. (April 26, 2021) – The Golden Triangle Business Improvement District (BID) is pleased to announce the opening of Social Spaces, a community-focused art initiative to bring people together along Pennsylvania Avenue west of the White House. The BID’s newest installations feature outdoor seating and provide space for returning downtown workers, residents, and visitors to safely meet in a beautiful and creative setting.
Two distinct public art projects will enliven the sprawling avenue by creating smaller, more intimate, and human-scaled places. The Penn Ave Pocket Park (19th Street, H Street, and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW) will be home to MERIDIAN by Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong, while Edward R. Murrow Park will be home to Common Ground by Risa Puno for approximately one year.
Social Spaces emphasizes community interaction, participation, and direct engagement between the spaces, sites, and people along the avenue. The exhibit is international in scope and vision and focuses on artworks that create dialogue and celebrate cultures through artist-designed gathering spaces.
“As people begin to return to their offices, they will need to continue to follow social distancing guidelines and Social Spaces will allow them to safely meet outdoors,” said Leona Agouridis, Executive Director of the Golden Triangle BID. “Our vision for Pennsylvania Avenue west of the White House is a center of global culture, diversity, and community and these public artworks help animate that vision.”
Social Spaces paves the way for the larger streetscape project planned for Pennsylvania Avenue by sparking the public imagination around the potential these spaces contain. In partnership with the District Department of Transportation and others, Penn Avenue West will be transformed over the next several years by improving pedestrian and bicycle travel, while building a green streetscape that encourages opportunities for street activation.
Funding for these installations was generously provided by the District Department of Transportation’s Art in the Right of Way (AROW) program.
Learn more about the Golden Triangle BID public art initiative here.
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About the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District
Formed in 1998, the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District (BID) enhances Washington, DC’s central business district, the 44-square-block neighborhood stretching from The White House to Dupont Circle. Home to roughly 6,000 businesses, the BID provides a clean, safe, and vibrant environment for hundreds of thousands of workers, residents, and visitors, and encourages economic development through capital projects, public art, sustainability, and events. The Golden Triangle has been awarded LEED Platinum, the highest level of LEED certification, by the U.S. Green Building Council. It is the first BID in the world to be certified through the LEED for Communities program. For more information, visit: goldentriangledc.com and connect on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Media Contact: Andrew Huff, 202.463.3400, ahuff@goldentriangledc.com
