CalendarClasses, Camps & WorkshopsKids and the ParkDanceAbout Glen Echo ParkGLEN ECHO PARK is a magical place situated on the Potomac palisades near Bethesda, Maryland. Originally a Chautauqua retreat, then an amusement park, this National Park is now host to a variety of arts, environmental and history programs.
Take a class in pottery, painting, photography, or glass art. Enjoy a puppet show or theater performance with your family and ride the carousel. Dance in our exquisite ballroom or refine your steps in one of our dance classes. Learn more about the environment while you play, or take a ranger-guided historic tour. It's all here at the Park. We hope to see you soon!
The 38th Annual Labor Day Art Show at Glen Echo Park takes place in the historic Spanish Ballroom. The free event, sponsored by the Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture, runs from noon to 6 p.m., Saturday through Monday. The show features the work of more than 200 artists—both adults and children—from the mid-Atlantic region. Many artists have a connection to the Park, either as students or teachers. Includes sculpture, paintings, works on paper, ceramics, glass, jewelry, photography, furniture and more.
Most artwork will also be for sale. The opening reception on Friday, August 29, from 7 to 9 p.m. is open to the public, and many participating artists are expected to attend. Admission is free.
Registration has closed for the 2008 Labor Day Art Show. We invite you to enter next year’s show – look for entry forms in early summer 2009.
The Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture and the Irish Inn at Glen Echo will present a weekend of Irish music and dancing, featuring a wide variety of the area's finest performers. Free and open to the public, the weekend-long festivities will entertain and delight the many visitors expected over the Labor Day holiday weekend. For more information check out the Special Events Calendar.
The Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture is seeking qualified individuals and/or organizations to present one or more social dance events, for the purpose of providing participatory and educational dance activities to the general public, at Glen Echo Park from January - December 2009 in both the Spanish Ballroom and Bumper Car Pavilion. The Request for Proposals can be downloaded from our website. All details concerning submission of a proposal are in the document. The deadline for submissions is Tuesday, September 2, 2008.
Registration for fall-winter classes is now open and many fall classes will begin in just a few weeks. We are offering new classes in a variety of arts and media including basketry, book and paper arts, color and creativity for teens and adults, as well as new children’s visual arts classes with Creative Thinkers, Young Creative Spirit and the Corcoran. Creative movement classes return this fall with new yoga and adult movement classes and social dance classes in a variety of styles will keep the Spanish Ballroom and Bumper Car Pavilion jumping all season long! In addition many resident programs have expanded their offerings in photography, drawing and painting, kilnformed glass and pottery. To browse and register for classes online click here.
Printed catalogs are available at the Park and at your local library and area art stores. You may also download a PDF version of the catalog by clicking here. We have a terrific line-up of fall programs for all ages so check out the catalog now. We look forward to seeing you in a class this fall!
To learn more about upcoming visual arts, dance and performance classes this fall, join us for our annual Open House. Visitors will be able to experience free classes and demonstrations, meet instructors, view resident artists at work in their studios and browse through a student art exhibit in the Popcorn Gallery. For a schedule of open house events click here.
The Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture, Inc. requests expressions of interest from qualified nonprofit organizations to develop and provide arts or cultural programming in Glen Echo Park’s South Arcade Studio, a newly renovated facility within a historic National Park. This studio, approximately 1,800 square feet, will be available for lease in late fall 2008. For more information or to download the Request for Expressions of Interest click here. To schedule a tour of the facility, contact Meredith Forster at 301.634.2223. The deadline for written expressions of interest is Friday, September 5, 2008.
One of the greater Washington area’s true treasures, the historic Glen Echo Park Dentzel carousel opened for its 88th year on April 26, 2008. Tickets are $1.00 per ride. Click here for the 2008 carousel schedule.
For inclement weather and Park closing information please call, 301.320.2330.
The Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture, Inc. is funded by an operating grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive, and also by funding from the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County. All programs are produced in cooperation with the National Park Service and Montgomery County, Maryland.
