Coming Soon to Merriweather
Jun 14, 2021 03:42PM ● By Adrienne Ross
One of the great advantages to living in Columbia is its incredible outdoor entertainment spaces, particularly Merriweather. As COVID restrictions are lifted and more people become vaccinated these spaces are going to be booked with summer events, and Ian Kennedy, Executive Director of the Downtown Columbia Arts and Culture Commission (DCACC), is looking for ways to bring some normalcy to summer activities. He acknowledges that “at Merriweather, patrons cannot experience the escape that we want people to have if they don’t feel comfortable.” There is still a lot of uncertainty of what a post-pandemic world looks like, particularly for big events, but Kennedy and his team have been planning for any outcome, “we’ve spent the last year educating ourselves about protocols and procedures and what we will have to do should those restrictions be reinstated.”
Kennedy’s passion for bringing the arts back to Columbia was clear. When he pronounces the acronym for his group, the DCACC, it sounds like “dack”, and he playfully explains that the first C is silent. The pandemic isn’t the first trial Merriweather has had to endure, and Kennedy deserves a lot of credit for why the venue persists today.
In 2003, the Rouse Company announced they would be shutting down Merriweather after 36 years. Kennedy started a grassroots movement called Save Merriweather in response, and quickly built a large community following. After staving off the shutdown, he spent the next decade committing his time and energy to ensuring the original vision of Merriweather be realized -- a hub for cultural performances and contemporary pop shows.
In 2010, the various corporations that owned most of the property in Columbia banded together with the shared realization that they needed a “Master Plan” to enhance and develop the downtown area. “They needed a vehicle that could bring more cultural and community events to downtown, so that was the idea of a nonprofit organization, hence DCACC. The goal of DCACC is to strengthen the arts and culture ecosystem in downtown Columbia and to raise its stature to come up with new and dynamic programming.”
As of 2016, DCACC owns the ten fenced acres that Merriweather Post Pavilion occupies but their vision and involvement reaches far beyond the fence line. “We see ourselves facilitating partnerships throughout downtown Columbia to raise the entire Columbia ecosystem to serve as the connective tissue between the Lakefront, the Chrysalis, and the Merriweather District.”
The DCACC team is anxious to fill seats at Merriweather but they are taking things slowly, and assessing the new landscape post-COVID. The plan is to use smaller events like graduations and partnership events at Color Burst Park (co-hosted with the Howard Hughes Corporation) to monitor crowd dynamics so they can iterate on the event management plan for larger bookings this fall. “Events should be happening throughout downtown Columbia every weekend, in a way that is scaled and particularly suited for those spaces, “ says Kennedy, “all these spaces have their own identity and potential uses. We want to create that framework to help make it feel like one complete whole.”
DCACC's goal is to create a space, plant a seed, nurture the soil, and then let culture grow. “How can we transform downtown Columbia into a place where it cultivates creativity and celebrates it? We’re looking into how to create a space for art everywhere. Why should music live on a stage? Why should dance? Why should art be in museums?” Kennedy’s vision is that you shouldn’t need to have a plan for a night out in Columbia -- downtown should be a destination all its own. Ian Kennedy’s last remarks were, “I think people will see a rebirth of downtown Columbia, there will be spaces and performances for everyone!” Stay tuned!