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Dear Friends,
The DC Collaborative is 21 years old! It's been an exciting ride from the very beginning, and we love the work we do. We could not have accomplished so much without you!
Included in this newsletter is an AHFES announcement for our providers, Kids Euro Fest reminder, a recap about our annual Member's Meeting held last week, and the launch of our #WhatsYourStory campaign.
Please share your stories about why arts and humanities education is essential for our students and why working together with the DC Collarboative is so very important.
Sincerely,
DC Collaborative Team
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Our Story
In 1998, representatives from DC Public Schools (DCPS), arts organizations, and charitable enterprises recognized a void and embraced a common goal: They wanted Washington's rich cultural resources to be accessible to all of the District's teachers and students, especially those in low-income neighborhoods. A related desire was to connect arts activities to the school curriculum. Existing programs were neither citywide, nor classroom oriented. Since our founding, nearly half-a-million students in Washington, DC's, public education system have participated in the Arts and Humanities for Every Student program, and thousands of teachers have attended Professional Development workshops.
Today, we continue to work with schools and organizations across the District, spreading our mission of advancing access to learning opportunities in the arts and humanities for all DC Public and Public Charter schools.
New Staff Spotlight: Clarissa Heartsfield
This month we welcomed a new staff member to our office! Clarissa comes to us from a previous position at the Kennedy Center and has jumped right in to our day to day operations with our school contacts. We are so excited about her addition to our amazing team. Good luck, Clarissa!
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Annual Members Meeting Recap
thanks to our host PHILLIPS@THEARC |
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Last Thursday, we held our annual member's meeting at Phillips@THEARC!
Throughout the afternoon, we heard updates from our members, told our stories, and ate some delicious birthday cake! Check out the photos below!
Our yummy birthday spread! Special thanks to ButterCream BakeShop for our festive cake.
Board President Linda Harper introduces our newest board members:
Nathan Diamond,
Director, Operations, School and Community Programs for John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Terry Thomas, DCPS Art teacher at Seaton Elementary School
Samantha Wyer Bello, Senior Director of Education at Shakespeare Theatre Company
Katrina Sorrell, Senior Associate in the Financial Services Division at Booz Allen Hamilton
Board Member Sarah Durkee gives an update on AHFES and shares her own story of the importance of Arts and Humanities experiences in her life.
New Board Member Nathan Diamond gives an update on the Collective Impact/Any Given Child Initiative. More news to come in November!
Rachel Goldberg from Phillips at THEARC shares the amazing successes of this new community focused programming site. Thanks for hosting us, Phillips at THEARC!
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This year, rather than asking for money on #GivingTuesday (November 27,) the DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative plans to "give back" to our community by sharing our stories that highlight the work that we do together to ensure equitable access to the arts and humanities for DC students and their educators.
We're calling this campaign #WhatsYourStory.
What are we asking? We're asking for stories from you! our members, teachers, students, board members, supporters, friends and all community stakeholders.
Click here for link to the Google Form with some questions about why arts and humanities education are important to you. Questions include:
what you have done to promote arts and humanities education, and why you think the work of the DC Collaborative is important.
We would love if you could complete the form this week! By filling out this
form, you are giving the DC Collaborative permission to use your responses in our
#WhatsYourStory campaign.
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| AHFES Announcement for Providers |
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Field Trip Information Deadline!
We are nearing the month of November, and that is one step closer to the opening of our Winter Lottery on December 3rd! If you are an AHFES Provider, please submit your program details to us
by November 9th!
If you are interested in becoming an AHFES Provider, please contact Katherine Custer at
katherine@dccollaborative.org for more details.
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| Kids Euro Fest 2018 Kickoff |
It's Finally Here!
Kids Euro Fest is upon us! We're so excited to explore the culture of European children's entertainment! Thank you to so many of our members for participating in this amazing opportunity for our students to explore different cultures from across the ocean!
The festival runs from October 20 through November 4.
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DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative
District of Columbia Candidate Survey
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Candidates for DC public office,
we want to hear from you!
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This month, we've asked all candidates running for DC elected offices to participate in an
Arts and Humanities Education Survey
. We asked the candidates the following six questions:
Question 1: What would you do to ensure that every school in the city has the resources to provide every student with a quality education that includes the arts and humanities every day?
----- Background: DC has a rich array of cultural resources, including arts and cultural institutions and professional artists that play an important role in the lives and education of our school children. The District Arts and Humanities Initiative: Field Trip Experiences (FTE), established by the Mayor through the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, is a $1 million initiative that supports arts and humanities organizations to offer comprehensive field trip experiences for students in the District's public and public charter schools.
Question 2: In what ways would you support and enhance programs like the DAHI FTE to ensure that public school students and their families can enjoy meaningful engagement with all of our District's cultural resources?
Question 3: What role do you think the arts and humanities can play in supporting key education priorities such as closing the achievement gap, reducing the dropout rate, and preparing students for life beyond high school? If elected, how will you promote the role of arts and humanities in meeting priorities in District schools?
-----Background: Culture is also an important part of the DC economy, where it accounts for an estimated $30 billion in annual spending and 112,370 jobs. 72% of business leaders say creativity is the number one skill they're looking for in hiring, but 85% say they cannot find the creative applicants they seek.
Question 4: What strategies do you envision for better preparing our students for a creative workforce?
Question 5: How, if at all, would you restructure the current system of school governance? How might this impact the delivery of arts and humanities instruction in city schools?
-----Background: On April 10, 2018, the DC City council passed DC PR22-0523 "Sense Of The Council Arts Humanities In Education Resolution Of 2017" establishing an arts education policy for the District of Columbia.
Question 6: How would you engage teachers, parents, the arts and cultural community, city agencies, and other interested stakeholders to meet the goals of this policy and expand access to arts and humanities education?
By completing this
survey
candidates will help us understand their positions on arts and humanities education so that voters, people we see in our cultural institutions, venues and classrooms - may better understand how they will support our work if they are elected on November 6th.
We gave the candidates until October 30th to respond. We'll post the results from candidates who respond later this week.
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Get Involved - Join our Committees!
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The DC Collaborative's Programming Committee is open to members, partners and educators. The Committee will assist the DC Collaborative team in furthering their mission of equity and access to quality arts and humanities education for all students and teachers in the DC public education system (traditional and public charter). The Programming Committee will analyze and evaluate the quality of arts and humanities education experiences, develop opportunities for mentorship and program improvement and inform the Arts and Humanities for Every Student policies and procedures.
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Collective Impact Committee
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The DC Collaborative invites you to join us in the strategic planning year of Ensuring the Arts for Any Given Child DC,
Collective
Impact
work! The Collective Impact Committee,
formerly known as the Membership Committee,
will aid us advising and executing the work of the Community Arts Team, as well as assisting us in keeping our members up-to-date during the strategic planning year. We value the input from all of our members to make this process a success.
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Donate to the DC Collaborative
online or remit payment by check to:
DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative
The DC Collaborative is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All gifts are tax deductible the the fullest extent of the law.
Does your company have a matching gift program? Would you like to make a gift of stock or a planned gift?
Let us know!
The DC Collaborative is members of the Any Given Child program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
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About the DC Collaborative:
More than 100 members strong, the DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative (DC Collaborative) provides equitable access to quality arts and humanities education for all DC public and chartered public schools for the growth of the whole child. Working with its partners, since its founding in 1998, the DC Collaborative produces such exemplary programs as Arts and Humanities for Every Student and the Professional Development Initiative. View our
Member Directory.
For more information on the DC Arts and Humanities
Education Collaborative, Please visit our
website
.
If you would like to include something in our next
member e-news, please email us!
Submissions for our consideration are due C.O.B. on the third Friday of every month and are subject to edits by the DC Collaborative staff.
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The DC Collaborative is proud to receive a grant for its Collective Impact work supported in part by an award from the 
