Editing Columbia, Maryland (section)

== Arts and culture ==
=== Entertainment and performing arts ===
{{more citations needed|1=section|date=November 2022}}
[[File:Merriweather Post Pavilion.jpg|Merriweather Post Pavilion|thumb]]
[[File:Virgin Mobile Freefest at Merriweather.jpg|thumb|[[The National (band)|The National]] playing at Virgin Mobile Freefest at [[Merriweather Post Pavilion]]]][[Merriweather Post Pavilion]], a well-known outdoor concert venue, attracts many prominent performers.<ref>{{cite book| title=New City Upon a Hill: A History of Columbia, Maryland| first1=Joseph Rocco| last1=Mitchell| first2=David L.| last2=Stebenne| year=2007| page=89| publisher=History Press| url=https://archive.org/details/newcityuponhillh0000steb/page/88/mode/2up?q=gehry| isbn=978-1-5962-9067-9}}</ref> In addition, there are several performing arts organizations that present professional theater, including [[Toby's Dinner Theatre]], [[Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts]] and the [[Young Columbians]] which have produced the area premieres of several musicals.

Columbia also offers chamber music concerts, children's programs, community outreach programs, master classes, and pre-concert lectures and discussions through the Candlelight Concert Society, a non-profit organization formed by Columbia residents to provide chamber music concerts since 1972.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.candlelightconcerts.org/|title=Candlelight Concert Society|website=Candlelight Concert Society|access-date=October 6, 2013|archive-date=October 30, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030073543/http://candlelightconcerts.org/|url-status=live}}{{Better source needed|reason=source is self-published [[WP:RSSELF]]|date=November 2022}}</ref>

=== Howard County Library System ===
[[Howard County Public Library|Howard County Library System]] (HCLS) is consistently top rated among the nation's public library systems according to Hennen's American Public Library Ratings (HAPLR).<ref>Hennen's American Public Library Ratings. [http://www.haplr-index.com/libraries_by_frequency_in_top_te.htm Hennen's American Public Library Ratings] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130911110347/http://www.haplr-index.com/libraries_by_frequency_in_top_te.htm |date=September 11, 2013 }}, Hennen's American Public Library Ratings (HAPLR), 2010, retrieved October 18, 2010</ref> Two of the six branches of the Howard County Library System are in Columbia, including the Central Branch in Town Center and the East Columbia Branch in Owen Brown.

=== Historic sites ===
There are four historic [[National Register of Historic Places]] sites in Columbia: [[Christ Church Guilford]], [[Dorsey Hall]], [[Woodlawn (Columbia, Maryland)|Woodlawn]], and the [[Oakland Mills Blacksmith House and Shop]]. Most historic buildings, mills and plantations within Columbia that qualified for the register, such as [[Oakland Manor]],<ref>{{cite web| title=National Register Historic Listings Howard County| url=http://mht.maryland.gov/nr/NRMapHO.html| access-date=June 20, 2014| archive-date=March 3, 2014| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303123336/http://mht.maryland.gov/nr/NRMapHO.html| url-status=live}}</ref> were not submitted by Rouse company affiliates.{{cn|date=December 2024}}

=== Religion ===
Rouse, a devout Episcopalian, commissioned a study concerning how places of worship would be integrated into plans for the new town.<ref name=Numrich>{{cite journal |last=Numrich |first=Paul D. |date=2019 |title=How important is religion in interreligious relationships? Interreligious space-sharing as a case study |url=https://irstudies.org/index.php/jirs/article/download/355/345 |journal=Journal of Interreligious Studies |volume=26 |pages=42–57 |access-date=November 11, 2022 |archive-date=November 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221111151012/https://irstudies.org/index.php/jirs/article/download/355/345 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Stanley Hallett|Dr. Stanley Hallet]] advised this 1964 work group to economically abandon "The extravagance of church life" in favor of [[ecumenical]] establishments that focused resources on retreat centers and non-profit religious corporations.<ref>{{cite news |title=Columbia: Ecumenical Adventure |newspaper=The Communicator: News of the Episcopal Church in Maryland |date=November 1966}}</ref> The Rouse Company discouraged individual congregations from purchasing land from the company.<ref name=Numrich/> In 1966, the Columbia Religious Facilities Corporation was founded to lease interfaith centers to congregations.<ref>{{cite book |title=Culture and Environment |author=Martin M. Chemers |page=285}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Columbia Religious Facilities Corporation |url=http://www.christianvolunteering.org/orgs/columbia-religious-facilities-corporation.jsp#fq=content_type:opportunity |access-date=November 11, 2014 |archive-date=November 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141112034011/http://www.christianvolunteering.org/orgs/columbia-religious-facilities-corporation.jsp#fq=content_type:opportunity |url-status=live }}</ref> On June 22, 1969, $2.5 million in church donations applied to the CFRC to purchase Columbia land and build an interfaith facility in the village of Wilde Lake. The organization formed the Interfaith Housing Corporation (now the Columbia Housing Corporation) to purchase 300 units of low and moderate income housing in the development with [[Federal Housing Administration|Federal Housing Authority]] funding.<ref name="New City"/>{{rp|97}} <ref>{{cite book|title=Suburban Alchemy: 1960s New Towns and the Transformation of the American Dream|author=Nicholas Dagen Bloom|page=172}}</ref>