Historic Anacostia is home to the “Big Chair,” Cedar Hill, the home of celebrated orator and abolitionist Frederick Douglass and the Anacostia Neighborhood museum. I have visited the museum on three occasions. Each time, the exhibition was laid out in an intriguing manner, utilizing the gallery to create a personal experience in the space. Each exhibition arrested my attention and each time I have gone home feeling inspired and invigorated. I would have loved to have shared my experience with other visitors, but each of my three visits to Anacostia, I have been one of maybe three visitors in the ENTIRE museum. This pains me deeply, the museum is a GEM, I just wish more people were aware, one that it exists and two that they are free to visit it as they would any other Smithsonian. I wonder whether location and difficulty finding it or the subject matter that is to blame for their abysmal attendance.
If the issue is location, Anacostia’s situation seems to be akin to the predicament faced by private museums such as the Corcoran and Museum of Women in the Arts. How do these museums thrive? How do they convince tourists and native Washingtonians alike that their museum is worth the time and price of admission? That the feeling and overall takeaways are worth the effort? I would hope that there is a strategic plan either in the works or being assembled to address the seemingly precarious situation over the bridge in the historic neighborhood nestled cozily on a hilltop. Although the neighborhood is by no means inviting and there are still shady looking characters at every turn and I would NEVER suggest walking through any part of it alone or at night, for what Anacostia lacks in immediate aesthetic beauty it makes up in breathtaking vistas of the rest of the city and a rich cultural history.
Smithsonian-run shuttles used to run from downtown D.C. to Anacostia but with little interest and rising gas costs, as of last month, shuttle services were suspended. As one of two non-National Mall “satellite” museums in Washington, with the other being the American Art Museum in Chinatown, my concern is that attendance will never improve if shuttle services over to Anacostia remain cut. Although off-the-Mall, Smithsonian American Art has the advantage of being RIGHT in the heart of Chinatown, a revived area constantly buzzing with activity and it also has the advantage of being metro accessible.
Some may argue that with a focus on its predominantly African American subject matter that it should merge with the future National Museum of African American History and Culture and the African Art Museum which already exists on the National Mall. I would disagree. Anacostia has its own mission and is an anchor in an already economically, artistically and socially depressed area. Removing the community museum or relocating it to downtown would throw off the balance that Anacostia provides as an anchor in its immediate community. I don’t have a solution yet, but it’s definitely something that I’m keeping at the forefront of my mind.
Perhaps one answer lies in the Internet. Run by the National Park Service, Cedar Hill has one of those rather yawn-inducing sites that hardly expresses your exuberance for the place. It is out of the way and like many NPS sites, it seems a bit like a self-fulfilling prophesy: let's not advertise this remarkable site because nobody comes anyway (but of course nobody comes because it's not advertised). You are right, though, that it's a tough position to be a museum/historic site in a rough neighborhood that's not easily accessed via public transportation. Take a look, though, at the Bronx Museum of Art. They've done a tremendous job through a great website, eblasts, etc to draw visitors up to...for goodness sakes. the BRONX!
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