About BUP
Our Mission
Create an environment, experience, and economy in which downtown Bethesda businesses, residents, and visitors can thrive and prosper.
From 2025/2026 Board Chair Dan Schlaff
I am honored to serve as Chair of the Bethesda Urban Partnership (BUP) Board of Directors, an organization I have had the pleasure of being a part of for many years. As I assume the position for the July 2025 – June 2026 term, I would like to thank our community for its continued support of downtown Bethesda. As a local resident, I am thrilled to lead an organization that creates fun and unique experiences for the community while promoting Bethesda’s many great restaurants, interesting shops, and cultural programming.
The BUP Team has delivered outstanding maintenance, marketing and mobility services since 1994, receiving many accolades from our business, government and community partners for our work in making downtown Bethesda a success. We are fortunate to have amenities for residents, opportunities for businesses, and an unmatched community spirit. You’ve probably seen our dedicated team in red shirts maintaining downtown Bethesda, at our special events and throughout the week. We also help market local businesses, promote transportation alternatives, and have a significant presence on social media to stay connected with our constituents.
Some highlights from the past year include events such as the Taste of Bethesda, Outdoor Movies, Summer Concerts and the Bethesda Fine Arts Festival. Additionally, our public art programs such as the new Signal Box public art project, local galleries, and arts events such as the Bethesda Film Fest make our area culturally rich and provide quality entertainment.
Our five-year Strategic Plan centers around our Vision to maintain and provide a downtown that is a “vibrant hub of community activity for residents, workers, and visitors alike as well as a mixed-use district that is clean, safe, beautiful, walkable and increasingly diverse.” We have outlined in this report the many initiatives, programs, marketing, and special events that have contributed to a successful and engaging downtown experience.
I am grateful for the privilege of working alongside the BUP team and my Board colleagues. We remain dedicated to making Bethesda an exceptional community through our ongoing projects while working to create an even better future for downtown Bethesda and our constituents.
Best regards,
Dan Schlaff
Chair
Bethesda Urban Partnership
Operations & Funding
Established by Montgomery County in 1994, Bethesda Urban Partnership, Inc. (BUP) is a downtown management organization that maintains and markets downtown Bethesda. The organization was developed to promote downtown Bethesda as a desirable place to live, work and visit as well as foster a community that features restaurants, retailers, arts venues and more.
The BUP team includes more than 30 employees working in marketing, maintenance, mobility and administration who produce cultural events and community festivals and attend to landscaping and maintenance needs. BUP also manages Bethesda Transportation Solutions (BTS), the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, and the Bethesda Circulator as well as the non-profit art spaces, Gallery B, Studio B and the Triangle Art Studios.
BUP is operated by an 11-member Board of Directors comprising residents, businesses and developers appointed by the County Executive. The organization is funded primarily by revenue generated from the Bethesda Parking Lot District fees, in addition to the commercial Urban District property tax. Private sponsors partner with BUP on events such as Taste of Bethesda and the Bethesda Fine Arts Festival.
Maintenance
Bethesda’s sidewalks, streets and flowerbeds are meticulously maintained by the 14-person BUP maintenance team. Throughout the week the team manages trash removal, cleans and repairs streets, trims trees, maintains 188,000 square feet of turf and more.
Marketing
BUP’s marketing team creates year-round community events, produces free guides that detail Bethesda’s restaurant, retail, home fashion and arts organizations and operates downtown Bethesda’s Web site, www.bethesda.org. The efforts of BUP’s marketing team target downtown Bethesda’s residents, tourists, visitors and employees. The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is also managed by BUP’s marketing team. BUP’s marketing team is the producer of Imagination Bethesda, Taste of Bethesda, a free Summer Concert Series, Yappy Hour, Winter Wonderland and Bethesda Outdoor Movies. To stay up to date on all of the Bethesda Urban Partnership’s events and amenities, please join the BUP email list and follow us on social media.
Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District
The state of Maryland designated downtown Bethesda as an Arts & Entertainment District effective July 1, 2002. The 501(c)(3) non-profit organization is comprised of a 12-member Board of Directors as well as an advisory committee of local artists and arts businesses representatives. The mission of the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is to create and implement arts and entertainment projects that contribute to the artistic, cultural and economic growth of downtown Bethesda.
Special tax incentives are in place that will benefit artists, arts enterprises and developers that are located within the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District. The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is the producer of the Bethesda Fine Arts Festival, The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards, the Bethesda Painting Awards, Play In A Day, “Paint the Town,” and manages Gallery B, Studio B and Triangle Art Studios.
Mobility
Bethesda Transportation Solutions helps manage the traffic in downtown Bethesda by marketing local, state and federal commuter benefits programs and tax incentives to employers. BTS promotes alternative transportation such as rail, bus, carpools and biking with the goal of reducing the number of Bethesda employees who drive alone to work.