By The People 2018

Halcyon’s inaugural By the People festival took place across Washington, DC June 21-24, 2018. The festival touched every quadrant of the city, focusing on the themes of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Over four days, our festival staged a full-on arts takeover of the city, with interactive visual art installations, performances ranging from ballet to go-go, high profile speakers, and an augmented reality art hunt. While events were concentrated at our five festival hubs, 18 other spots around town participated as satellite locations or hosted a one-time By The people event.

In the end we logged over 26,000 visits to official By The People festival events, over 50,000 visits to Smithsonian museums during the affiliated Smithsonian Solstice events, and a local economic impact of over $2.6 million.

“While the national acts and federal venues are impressive, all weekend long, visual artists from D.C. will anchor the main tents and dozens of satellites on the By The People calendar. That’s unheard of… It’s Basel with a conscience.” Kriston Capps, Washington City Paper

ARTISTS, PERFORMERS, SPEAKERS, AND LOCATIONS

Smithsonian’s Arts + Industries Building

Antonius Bui*
Eaton Wellness
Hoesy Corona*
Maya Freelon
Linda Hesh
Konshens the MC
Estefani Mercedes*
Marjan Moghaddam
numberF
Jenny Sabin
Georgia Saxelby*
Rachel Schmidt
Dan Steinhilber
Washington Performing Arts

Union Market

Kristin Adair*
BalletX
Bridgman|Packer Dance
Chloe Bensahel*
DJ Alec Mackaye
DJ Baby Alcatraz
Double Nickels Theatre
Brian Carlson
Rebecca Clark
Cynthia Connolly
Bradley Friedman
Holladay Brothers
Hong Kong Ballet
Avish Khebrehzadeh
Taraka Larson
Loud Boyz
The Messthetics
Sneaks
Terra Firma Dance
Liliane Tomasko
Washington Performing Arts
Wolf Trap Opera

THEARC

Nathaniel Brodie
Antonius Bui*
Bridgman|Packer Dance
Double Nickels Theatre
Nick Cave
Erin Curtis
Alexis Gomez
Stephen Hayes*
Kerell Partee

Washington National Cathedral

Chloe Bensahel*
Bridgman|Packer Dance
Nick Cave
Rebecca Clark
Double Nickels Theatre
Stephen Hayes*
Marjan Moghaddam
Jason Moran
Imran Qureshi
Gregory (Andy) Wagener

The Parks at Walter Reed

Michael JN Bowles
Bridgman|Packer Dance
Stacy Cantrell
Double Nickels Theatre
Dupont Brass
Nekisha Durrett
Stephanie Owens
Jefferson Pinder
Heidi Trepanier

Other Locations

Ray LaMontagne with Neko Case
Rare Essence with Small Upsetters

Dialogue Participants

Yousef Bashir
Ambassador Barbara Bodine
Tony Fratto
Yossi Klein Halevi
Robin Hunicke
Sonal Shah
Dr. Robert Waldinger
Lucianne Walkowicz
Armstrong Wiggins
Smithsonian Associates

Satellite Locations

Anacostia Arts Center
Blind Whino SW Arts Club
Gallery 102
Hamiltonian
IA&A at Hillyer
La Maison Française – Embassy of France
The Kreeger Museum
Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center
National Museum of Women in the Arts
No Kings Collective
Split This Rock
Transformer
Unity in Diversity
VisArts