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Children participating in classes offered through CHAW’s Youth
Arts Program. Photos: Courtesy of CHAW
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Walk into the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (CHAW) at 3:45 p.m. on any weekday, and you will experience infectious energy and tremendous creativity. Children from over nine schools from Capitol Hill and beyond fill CHAW’s art gallery, playing games, making sculptures out of found objects, and chatting about ideas for their new digital movie, screenplay or painting. As the clock strikes 4 p.m., students disperse into one of six different classes to pursue their artistic endeavors while building community with their peers.
The Youth Arts Program (YAP) is CHAW’s multidisciplinary curriculum of classes, performance and exhibition opportunities offered after school and throughout the school year to children ages 5 to12. Each week, students choose from 40 different class options ranging from the visual arts to theater, music, photography, dance, ceramics and more. In addition to the standards, CHAW strives to create an integrated arts experience for its students, introducing new art forms and courses every semester. New classes for 2010 include “Introduction to Writing Kid-Friendly Mysteries” and “Journey to India: Dance, Art and Story.”
Additionally, CHAW offers an extended class on Wednesdays for students with early dismissal and half-day and full-day camps for DC public school students. New this year, CHAW hosts a spring break camp from March 29 to April 2.
Diana Elliott, whose 6-year-old son Eamon attends four YAP classes a week, believes CHAW’s Youth Arts Program is invaluable and appreciates the variety of courses. “We all get so excited to look at the new list every semester and to let Eamon pick which art classes he is interested in,” says Elliott. “The different offerings have really fostered his development and interest in the visual arts (drawing, sculpture and pottery) and have exposed him to other mediums that were not really on his radar (photography and silk-screening).”
CHAW’s goals are simple: encouraging students to build community through the arts, fostering self-esteem, developing a lifelong appreciation for the arts, and pursuing artistic excellence and high quality instruction. “Because we have such a wide range of classes in variety of artistic disciplines, students at CHAW are provided creative opportunities to explore relationships between the arts and between art and community,” says Amy Moore, director of education and programs. “These interactions are meant to spark innovation, nurture critical response and develop a sense of appreciation for people and things in ways they otherwise would not.”
To achieve its goals, CHAW works with over 50 instructors, called teaching artists, who provide a safe and nurturing environment for students as they explore their creativity. “I absolutely love CHAW because the programs offer a wonderful, warm, creative, inspiring learning environment,” says Pam Jackson, whose son Quinton has been attending the Youth Arts Program for two years. “My son is blossoming as a talented bright thinker who sees the world with excitement and joy, in part because his teachers at CHAW see the world the same way.”
CHAW continues to grow the Youth Arts Program, developing new class ideas and providing high quality arts education programming outside of the regular school day. “It amazes me that we have this wonderful resource here on the Hill,” says Elliott. “I don't think there are many other communities that have such a great opportunity to integrate the arts into their children's education.”
A new session of Youth Arts Program classes begins Jan. 4 and runs until June 11. Van pick-up is available from local schools to CHAW. Each semester ends with a gallery show and performance demonstrating work created in class. Tuition assistance and payment plans are available. CHAW is located at 545 Seventh St. SE. Call 202-547-6839 or visit www.chaw.org for more information or to register online. |
