Community Corner
SAVE DoodleHATCH and MDfin
Columbia is at risk of losing the beloved DoodleHATCH Interactive Art Museum, and the Maryland Fashion Institute and Makerspace.
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Columbia is at risk of losing the beloved DoodleHATCH Interactive Art Museum, and the Maryland Fashion Institute and Makerspace.
The developers, Columbia Concepts, are planning to knock down the whole of the Long Reach Village Center in 2027 to replace it with 505 housing units and a 10,000 sq ft High-Tech sports center. The housing units will cost an average $700,000 and be out of reach for many of the local community. Columbia Concepts have made inadequate provisions for parking and road management which will cause a messy disruption to the stable Long Reach Community. Their plan removes the needed services that the community relies on.
ManneqART is trying to stop them! ManneqART, a 501c3 Non-Profit has a mission 'To Inspire Creativity'. It is run by the nationally recognized Art Clothing designer, Lee Andersen who has both a degree in Education and an MFA in Community Art. She was born in New Zealand but has lived in Columbia for almost 40 years. She is passionate about the arts and supporting young families. She works closely with her hard-working Board of Directors.
ManneqART founded DoodleHATCH 6 years ago, and Maryland Fashion Institute 2 years ago when Lee retired from her clothing company after producing 6000 designs and manufacturing 60,000 garments selling into 1200 independent boutiques in all 50 states. She in an ongoing battle with colon cancer and will be on chemo for the rest of her life. She currently has green, blue and purple hair but sometimes she has none and applies faux tattoos of dragons and roses! Her retirement includes working 6 days a week helping Fashion Students and welcoming the little kids visiting DoodleHATCH.
Lee Andersen and ManneqART are collecting the 5000 names necessary to legally stop the Howard County Zoning Board from issuing a permit to the profit-driven developer, Columbia Concepts.
ManneqART is hoping to keep DoodleHATCH Interactive Art Museum, beloved by 2 to 6 year olds and their families, here in Columbia. DoodleHATCH also houses the Manic Mannequins created by artists from around the country who made 'dresses out of wood and metal, paper, pantyhose and plastic. ManneqART is also hoping to keep the Maryland Fashion Institute (MDfin) in Columbia. It has full-time students, part-time students, and holds classes for Howard Community College on Friday nights, Saturday mornings and afternoons. Current classes are full. New classes will begin in the spring. Apaala, a full-time MDfin student, showed her collection at NY Fashion Week on September 9th this year. MDfin has a flexible program and takes new students at their convenience. Contact Lee@MDfin.org.
If ManneqART is able to stop Columbia Concepts, it will be able to keep the local Laundromat, the only one in Columbia, the African Art Museum of Maryland, and the delicious Los Pinos Spanish take-out, along with the Head Start program for children and other Community Services like Roving Radish plus add artist's studios. ManneqART is hoping to create a fun Art and Culture center called The REALM. It will include a Witches Kitchen where visitors can get a Muddy Booster Rocket (hot coffee) and a horrible-disgusting breakfast. (He He He). It would also add an accessible Performing Arts facility with a stage and seating for 500.
If you are a Howard County resident over 18, please help by visiting DoodleHATCH on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays to sign the petition. If you know out of town visitors who have enjoyed DoodleHATCH please have them email Lee@MDfin.org. They can't be part of the 5000 names needed to stop Columbia Concepts, but they will confirm the role of DoodleHATCH as a fun place to bring visitors.
Included are images of The REALM and the 140 foot long by 8 foot tall Mythical March Mural created by 100 community members in 2021. Visitors to DoodleHATCH have enjoyed photographing themselves in front of this mural for 5 years! The developers, Columbia Concepts, don't want this beautiful mural. Worse still, they had no plans for any public artworks at all, until they were told they were legally required to have them.
SAVE DoodleHATCH and the Mythical March Mural, Maryland Fashion Institute, and the rest of Long Reach Village Center!
Thank you from ManneqART and the Long Reach Community.
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