Three competing designs for the artwork that will commemorate the Godfather of Go-Go are ready for public feedback.
Today through Friday, February 7, people can visit the Web
site for the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities [CAH] to learn more about and provide input on three artists’ visions for memorializing Chuck Brown, who died in 2012.
At a meeting last week at the Washington Center for Aging, a modest community crowd turned out to hear the latest developments surrounding what Chuck Brown Park – of which this public artwork is but one component – will look like.
Ground was broken last summer for the Ward 5 memorial space, which will be part of the larger Langdon Park. Construction is scheduled to be complete at the end of August.
Additional features of the park, designed by D.C.’s Marshall Moya Design, will include a spray park to cool youngsters on the hottest D.C. days, a series of nature learning stations, a native vegetation hillside garden and fixed toy drums where future go-go bandleaders can get in a few rounds of practice.
Commissioner Nolan Treadway was in attendance at last week’s meeting. He expressed relief to Elevation DC that some of the “contentiousness” of last year appears to have dissipated. “I think the community managers who came out last week are pretty positive about the park,” he said.
Controversy erupted in 2013 when a planned amphitheater sparked noise concerns among neighbors – and again when the amphitheater was scrubbed from the plans altogether.