Student Artwork Now Displayed on CareFirst Arena in SE DC
Student artwork is featured on CareFirst Arena in southeast Washington, DC — a rare public showcase blending youth creativity with a major DC venue.
In brief
Student artwork is now on display at CareFirst Arena in southeast Washington, DC. The initiative showcases local student creativity on one of the District's prominent entertainment venues, giving young DC artists rare visibility at a major institutional landmark in the Congress Heights neighborhood.
Key Takeaways
Student artwork has been featured on CareFirst Arena in southeast Washington, DC.
The display brings youth art to one of DC's most visible entertainment venues.
The initiative connects local schools and students with a major public institution in SE DC.
CareFirst Arena Becomes a Canvas in Southeast DC
CareFirst Arena, located in the Congress Heights neighborhood of southeast Washington, is home to the Washington Mystics and the Washington Wizards' G League affiliate. According to the Washington Business Journal, student artwork has been selected for display on the arena — a move that puts youth creative work in front of the thousands of residents and visitors who pass through one of DC's most actively developing corridors.
Southeast DC has seen significant investment and redevelopment activity in recent years, and public art initiatives at anchor institutions like CareFirst Arena signal a deliberate effort to root that growth in the community's existing identity. Featuring student work on a professional sports and entertainment venue is an uncommon form of recognition for young artists in any American city.
Why Public Art at Major Venues Matters in Washington
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Washington, DC has a long tradition of public art woven into its civic fabric — from the murals of DC's neighborhood arts corridors to the monumental sculptures on the National Mall. But southeast DC, historically underinvested compared to neighborhoods like Georgetown or Capitol Hill, has its own vibrant creative community that rarely receives this level of institutional visibility.
Placing student artwork on a venue like CareFirst Arena — which draws audiences from across the DMV region — amplifies that work to an audience well beyond a school hallway or local community center. It also signals that the arena's operators see community engagement, not just ticket sales, as part of their institutional role in Ward 8.
For coverage of DC's broader cultural and political landscape, see WDCM's Culture section and the Best of DC guide.
Why This Matters in Washington
Southeast Washington has been at the center of debates about equitable development, displacement, and community investment for years. Ward 8, where CareFirst Arena sits, has one of the highest concentrations of young residents in the District. Initiatives that center student voices — literally, on the walls of a major venue — carry symbolic and practical weight in a city where development conversations often happen without community input.
The arena itself is a product of public-private negotiation, and its role as a neighborhood anchor makes decisions about what appears on its facade more than aesthetic choices. According to the DC Office of Planning, public art is a recognized component of the District's place-making and community development strategy. Student artwork at CareFirst Arena fits squarely within that framework — and sets a precedent other venues across the District could follow.
CareFirst Arena is located in the Congress Heights neighborhood of southeast Washington, DC, in Ward 8.
Whose artwork is featured at CareFirst Arena?
According to the Washington Business Journal, student artwork has been selected for display on CareFirst Arena. Specific schools or student names were not detailed in the available reporting.
What teams play at CareFirst Arena?
CareFirst Arena is the home of the Washington Mystics of the WNBA and serves as a venue for affiliated basketball programming in southeast DC.
Why is student art being displayed on a sports arena?
The display appears to be a community engagement initiative connecting local youth creativity with one of southeast DC's most prominent public institutions.
What is the significance of this for southeast DC?
Southeast DC, and Ward 8 in particular, has historically been underrepresented in high-visibility cultural programming. Featuring student work on CareFirst Arena gives young artists in the community rare public exposure at a regional venue.
The bottom line: Student artwork is now featured on CareFirst Arena in southeast Washington, DC — a visible gesture of community investment at one of the District's key entertainment venues. For a neighborhood where equitable development remains an active conversation, putting young artists on a public stage carries meaning well beyond decoration.
What to watch next: Whether this display becomes a recurring program, and whether other DC venues — from Capital One Arena in Chinatown to Audi Field along the Anacostia waterfront — adopt similar community art initiatives, will be worth following as the District continues to negotiate the relationship between institutional anchor tenants and the neighborhoods they inhabit.
Reporting drawn from: Washington Business Journal (bizjournals.com). Washington DC Magazine provides original analysis, DC-specific context, and editorial perspective beyond the source material.This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by WDCM editorial staff. Washington DC Magazine is committed to accuracy, transparency, and editorial integrity. If you believe any information in this article requires correction, please contact editor@washingtondcmagazine.com.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
