Editing Silver Spring, Maryland (section)

==Culture==
[[File:American Film Institute Silver Theater.jpg|thumb|[[AFI Silver|Silver Theatre and Culture Center]] in November 2005]]
Downtown Silver Spring hosts several entertainment, musical, and ethnic festivals, the most notable of which are the [[Silverdocs]] documentary film festival held each June and hosted by [[Discovery Communications]] and the [[American Film Institute]], an annual Thanksgiving Day Parade (Saturday before Thanksgiving) for [[Montgomery County, Maryland|Montgomery County]]. The Silver Spring Jazz Festival is the largest annual event, drawing {{gaps|20|000}}  people to the free festival held on the second Saturday in September. Featuring local jazz artists and a battle of high school bands, the Silver Spring Jazz Festival has featured [[Wynton Marsalis]], [[Arturo Sandoval]], [[Sérgio Mendes]], [[Aaron Neville]], the [[Mingus Big Band]], the [[Fred Wesley]] Group, and other [[jazz]] music artists.

[[The Fillmore Silver Spring|The Fillmore]] is a live entertainment and music venue with a capacity of 2000  people. It opened in 2011 in the former [[JC Penney]] building on Colesville Road. The venue joins the [[American Film Institute]] and [[Discovery Communications]] as cornerstones of the downtown Silver Spring's arts and entertainment district, and has featured performances by artists [[Prince Royce]], [[Minus the Bear]], [[Tyga]], [[Wale (rapper)|Wale]], [[Schoolboy Q]], [[Migos]], and others.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jambase.com/venue/the-fillmore-silver-spring/past-shows |website=JamBase |title=The Filmore Silver Spring |access-date=5 February 2020 |archive-date=February 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200205170600/https://www.jambase.com/venue/the-fillmore-silver-spring/past-shows |url-status=dead}}</ref> In August 2012 R&B singer [[Reesa Renee]] launched her album ''Reelease'' at the Fillmore.

Downtown Silver Spring is home to the Cultural Arts Center at [[Montgomery College]]. The Cultural Arts Center offers a varied set of cultural performances, lectures, films, and conferences. It is a resource for improving cultural literacy, encouraging cross-cultural understanding, and to build bridges between the arts, cultural studies, and other disciplines concerned with the expression of culture.

Dining in Silver Spring is varied, including [[Cuisine of the United States|American]], [[African cuisine|African]], [[Burmese cuisine|Burmese]], [[Ethiopian cuisine|Ethiopian]], Guatemalan, Japanese, [[Moroccan cuisine|Moroccan]], [[Italian cuisine|Italian]], [[Mexican cuisine|Mexican]], [[Salvadoran cuisine|Salvadoran]], [[Jamaican cuisine|Jamaican]], [[Vietnamese cuisine|Vietnamese]], [[Lebanese cuisine|Lebanese]], [[Thai cuisine|Thai]], [[Persian cuisine|Persian]], [[Chinese cuisine|Chinese]], [[Indian cuisine|Indian]], Greek, and [[Fusion cuisine|fusion]] restaurants, and national and regional chains.

Silver Spring has several churches, synagogues, temples, and other religious institutions, including the World Headquarters of the [[Seventh-day Adventist Church]]. Silver Spring serves as the primary urban area in Montgomery County and its revitalization has ushered in an eclectic mix of people and ideas, evident in the fact that the flagship high school, [[Montgomery Blair High School]], has no majority group with each major racial and ethnic group claiming a significant percentage.

Silver Spring hosts the [[American Film Institute]] [[AFI Silver|Silver Theatre and Culture Center]], on Colesville Road. The theatre showcases American and foreign films. [[Gandhi Brigade]], a youth development media project, began in Silver Spring out of the Long Branch neighborhood. [[Docs in Progress]], a non-profit media arts center devoted to the promotion of documentary filmmaking is located at the "Documentary House" in downtown Silver Spring. Silver Spring Stage, an all-volunteer community theater, performs in Woodmoor, approximately {{convert|3|mi|km}} north up Colesville Road from the downtown area. Downtown Silver Spring is also home to the [[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]] (NOAA), an agency of the [[United States Department of Commerce]] that includes the [[National Weather Service]], the [[American Nurses Association]], and several  real estate development, biotechnology, and media and communications companies.

[[Stevie Nicks]] of the band [[Fleetwood Mac]] has credited Silver Spring as an inspiration for the title of the band's 1977 song "[[Silver Springs (song)|Silver Springs]]". In a 1998 interview, Nicks said, "I wrote Silver Springs uh, about [[Lindsey_Buckingham|Lindsey [Buckingham]]]. And I ~ we were in Maryland somewhere driving under a freeway sign that said Silver Spring, Maryland. And I loved the name. ...Silver Springs sounded like a pretty fabulous place to me. And uh, 'You could be my silver springs...' that's just a whole symbolic thing of what you could have been to me."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.inherownwords.com/silver.htm |title=Stevie Nicks on Silver Springs |access-date=September 13, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623050203/http://www.inherownwords.com/silver.htm |archive-date=June 23, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>