Green Valley’s newest art space is preparing to open to the public with a outdoor market featuring creative activities and artwork for sale.
The 2700 Art Space project, located at the site of former Inner Ear recording studio next to Jennie Dean Park, will kick off its first official programming on Sunday, May 3 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Called SPARK!, the first monthly art market will include artwork from local artists — including prints and ceramics from The Studios at Arlington Arts — plus the mobile bookstore The Wandering Shelf, a pop-up poetry booth from The Poet is IN and the popular “Patch or Swap” booth where visitors can mend old clothes or trade them in.
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SPARK! is expected to return on the first Sunday of every month through November. It’s curated by the same programming team behind the Art Truck, which brought artists-in-residency around Arlington from 2018 to 2025, when the county canceled funding for the project.
“Every month will offer something new and unusual,” Arlington Arts said in a press release.
Food and drink options at the first art market will include the coffee truck Rossana Coffee and the Thai-inspired dessert pop-up Mango Mama.
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Also coming soon in and around the art space is a 10-foot-tall wooden sculpture of a golden retriever — reportedly the most-owned pet in Arlington — and “a colorful and inspirational mural” on the rear facade of the Arlington Arts headquarters at 300 S. Four Mile Run.
“Immediately facing 2700 Art Space, the mural will provide a sweeping visual counterpoint to the new outdoor venue,” a press release says. “It is the artist’s intention to honor early indigenous ancestors that once walked this region, along with the vibrant immigrant communities that now inhabit Arlington, while also honoring ancient indigenous practices and present-day practices that can be used sustain and protect our environment.”
These artworks are funded through Arlington Arts via an award from the National Endowment for the Arts American Rescue Plan Act.
The art space is part of an effort to implement an arts and industry district in Green Valley that responds to community needs and makes art more accessible. It replaces a warehouse that was previously home to Inner Ear Recording Studios — a building that Arlington County acquired in 2021 when Inner Ear relocated, and then demolished after deeming it too deteriorated to salvage.
The space retains a wall and recreated drum riser from the recording studio.
The art space began construction last August. Despite forthcoming launch event, as of today (Monday) it is still cordoned off with safety fencing and closed to the public.
