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Helping Out With the Call Box Project
The Call Box Project is powered by volunteers. With 100 call boxes in the Capitol Hill community, there is a need for many volunteers with many different skills. If you’d like to get involved, check this list and join in the fun. If you don’t see something here that appeals, please contact the coordinator with your idea or your special skills. Contact the coordinator through the Capitol Hill Restoration Society (CapHRS@aol.com; 202-543-0425) or directly (Nancy Metzger, 202-546-1034; n.metzger2@verizon.net).
1. Fundraising: Although the city will supply up to $250 in matching grants, each call box will need extra dollars to complete. Some call boxes may be funded by an individual or a block but others may not have nearby residents or businesses able to make such a commitment. A fundraising committee is needed to generate ideas on how to raise money for needed expenses and to follow through with the program.
2. Sponsoring a Call Box: If you or your business can sponsor a specific call box by financially supporting the artistic installation and final painting, your name(s) will be added to the small plaque to be affixed at the base with the title/subject, artist’s name, and other such information. CHRS, a 501c3 organization, will be handling all the financial contributions and disbursements to vendors, etc.
3. Designing a Call Box: If you have an artistic bent, please consider designing a call box. Capitol Hill’s boxes are not following a specific style – the diversity of styles and media will reflect the neighborhood. You can use old photographs, quotations, or other images to explore a theme that relates to the history (including recent history) of the Capitol Hill neighborhood. A Capitol Hill review committee will look at your idea, sketches and make suggestions so that your submission meets the city-wide criteria (durability and appropriateness of materials, historical accuracy, artistic quality).
4. Joining a Call Box team: Although each box definitely needs an artist with a vision, many boxes will need a supporting team — a captain, perhaps, to work with the artist if a block or organization is sponsoring a box; a researcher/writer to check historical accuracy. The base and pedestal of each box will need to be painted, and sometimes this can be done by people other than the artists. Finally, each box will need a near-by monitor to check for graffiti or vandalism so that, if necessary, the box can be repaired as quickly as possible.
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CHRS Projects Capitol Hill History & Database of Historic Building Permits, Squares 1000–1125 © Copyright 2001-2008, Capitol Hill Restoration Society. All rights reserved. Last updated January 13, 2008. Website hosted by DC Access. |