Discover the dynamic arts scene at BlackRock Center for the Arts and its impact on the community through creative expression and education.

Articulated Insight – “News, Race and Culture in the Information Age”

Mission

BlackRock Center for the Arts brings inspiring performing and visual arts experiences to diverse audiences in a welcoming and intimate setting, providing opportunities to explore, celebrate and engage in the arts.

Goals

• Present programs and artistic experiences of the highest quality to attract, retain and grow participation in the arts.
   
• Facilitate opportunities for engagement, development and life-long learning in the range of artistic disciplines.
   
• Reflect, celebrate and engage the diversity of our communities through programming and participation at all levels of our organization.
   
• Ensure the future of the arts in our community through sustainability of programs and resources.

ABOUT US

BlackRock Center for the Arts, the leading venue for the performing and visual arts in Upper Montgomery County, MD,  provides the community with the highest level of quality performances, free gallery exhibitions, and arts education classes in a welcoming and intimate setting close to home.

​Reaching more than 40,000 people per year, BlackRock presents performances featuring top regional, national, and international touring talent from the worlds of jazz, blues, Celtic, folk, world, and bluegrass, as well as a contemporary theater for audiences of all ages.

​Envisioned and established through a grassroots effort, BlackRock has been operating in a beautiful building completed in 2002. We’ve come a long way since then, and the best is yet to come! Thank you for your interest in learning more about who we are and what we do—we hope you will visit us for a performance, in a class, or at a gallery exhibit soon.

Exceptional visual art exhibitions in a variety of media

BlackRock presents exhibitions in our galleries throughout the year to provide opportunities for the creative expression of artists and the active engagement of audiences of all ages.

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The series of solo, group, juried and themed exhibitions showcase works in a variety of media by both emerging and established contemporary visual artists from across the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond.

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***Please be advised that occasionally our galleries are rented for private events. Call 301-528-2260 to ensure the gallery is open to the public during your planned visit.***

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

how to breathe underwater

On view in the BlackBox

20 April–19 May 
Wed–Sat: Noon–6:00 PM
Sun: 9:00 AM–1:00 PM 

Appointments highly encouraged Book Here

Reception 20 Apr, 2:00–5:00 PM

Artist Talk with Mollye Bendell 20 Apr, 3:00 PM

Program GreenFest all-ages activities and workshops, 27 Apr, 11:00 AM–4:00 PM

For her new exhibition, how to breathe underwater, Baltimore-based interdisciplinary artist Mollye Bendell offers an immersive virtual reality (VR) experience documenting her encounters with the ghost fleet of the Potomac—a collection of roughly 200 sunken wooden steamships in Mallows Bay, Maryland. Guest-curated by Vincent Ruffini,  the show uses VR, video, and a series of still images to capture the experience of venturing below the waves.

​“Mollye collected underwater videos through multiple trips to Mallows Bay,” Ruffini explains, “then combined and processed them using 3-D modeling and editing software.” Currently a Curatorial Practice MFA (CP) candidate at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Ruffini was initially drawn to Bendell’s work via his interest in coastal studies: “The project is exciting because it is both a marine ecology project and also an expansion of access: It brings the experience of a secluded location to a broader audience in a gallery space.”

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