Montpelier Arts Center-30 Years of Art, 1979-2009

9652 Muirkirk Road Laurel, MD20708

(301) 377–7800 (410) 792–0664

Fax: (301) 377–7801 TTY: (301) 490–2329

For Immediate Release through October18, 2009

Contact: Ruth Schilling Harwood, Assistant Director

Celebrate 30 years of art at Montpelier, 1979-2009!

Open Studios, Awards, Music by the Montpelier Jazz All Stars!

Refreshments, Free, and Open to the public.

Date:October 18, 2009

Hours:12 noon. – 5 pm

Over thirty-six years ago, The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) and a consortium of artists groupseducational institutions and community groups (the Laurel Art Guild, Friends of Montpelier, the Oakland Citizen’s Association and the South Laurel Recreation Council)developed a plan to convert an abandoned barn on the Montpelier Mansion property into an arts center where regional artists could create and exhibit their work. Despite enormous challenges like relocating the endangered bats that lived in the barn and the catastrophic fire of December 1976 which completely destroyed the barn with the exception of the silo, the M-NCPPC, its community partners, and elected officials Pauline Menes, Gladys Noon Spellman, and Frank Casula, succeeded in opening the MontpelierCulturalArtsCenter in the fall of 1979.

When the MontpelierCulturalArtsCenter (now MontpelierArtsCenter)was dedicated in October of 1979, no one could have imagined the extraordinary impact it would have on Prince George’s County and the art community. It has become one of the premier community arts facilities in the Mid-Atlantic region, renowned for offering unique, high quality programs in the visual, literary and performing arts for the public as well as offering excellent opportunities for artists.

Highlights from the first thirty years include:

●Exhibitions by thousands of artists- a list of exhibitors that reads like a “Who’s Who of

Maryland Artists”

●Unique class offerings for children to adults that include Fused Glass, Bronze Casting, Rug Hooking, Fast Fire Raku Ceramics, and now a digital lab that hosts classes in photography, animation, and sound recording

●An ever evolving concert program with a jazz series fall and spring, folk and blues, and classical recitals chosen from a national competition

●The recording label, JazzMont Records that has six releases all recorded live at Montpelier

●Poetry readings and literary classes

●A film series that features themed films paired with a catered dinner.

●96 Residents artists of whom 65 are featured in the current exhibition on view at the center.

Many artists’ careers have been launched through participation in the Center’s class program or through the studio rental program. After thirty years, students who took classes as children have returned to the center as adults:sometimes as exhibiting artists;as parents of children who need art classes; or as volunteers and concert patrons. The center has become absorbed into the fabric of the community and eagerly looks forward to its next thirty years!

For more information or to request visuals, please call (301) 377-7800 or email: . On the web* at:

* This is a new web address, please update your bookmarks.

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MontpelierArtsCenter is a facility of the Maryland-NationalCapitalPark and Planning Commission, Department of Parks & Recreation, Prince George’s County, Arts and Cultural Heritage Division.

Arts Programs of the Maryland-NationalCapitalPark and Planning Commission are supported by a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where arts thrive, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency that believes a great nation deserves great art.

The Department of Parks and Recreation encourages and supports the participation of individuals with disabilities. Please contact the facility at least two weeks in advance of the program start date to request an accommodation (i.e. sign language interpreter, support staff, etc.).

MontpelierArtsCenter is a facility of the

Maryland-NationalCapitalPark and Planning Commission,

Department of Parks & Recreation, Prince George’s County,

Arts and Cultural Heritage Division.