January 2021 Membership Newsletter
Dear Friends,
Happy 2021! We are excited to welcome the new year with you, but not without thanking you first, our members, for being here during last year’s unprecedented times. Our work is in our name, our heart, and our soul. We are not what we are meant to be without your participation, collaboration, and collective impact on our community. We are of service to our members through thick and thin, just as we will continue to focus our work on providing access to the Arts and Humanities for our students together, now more necessary than ever. With our country turning the tide, the Collaborative is also introducing new projects and updating old ones to further our mission. We look forward to a deeper partnership with all of you in this new year.
January 2021 Newsletter:

  1. AHFES Updates
  2. DC Collaborative Announcement
  3. AGC DC Collective Impact Updates
  4. National Cherry Blossom Festival Student Art Gallery
  5. Social Media Member Takeover
  6. Membership Communication
AHFES Updates
AHFES Spring Programs
The DC Collaborative just opened our Spring 2021 AHFES (Arts and Humanities for Every Student) Program for our member submissions.


  • All Spring 2021 AHFES programs will be virtual and asynchronous only. Asynchronous programs may have a synchronous workshop component, to be scheduled by the provider organization and reported to the Collaborative. 

  • Each AHFES program will have its own customizable page in our Distance Learning Resource Database.

  • To submit new AHFES programs, please complete this form.


  • We have created a separate, but simplified AHFES Program Renewal Form for those of you who would like to continue offering the same programs as the Fall. Once the form is opened and you've entered your basic information, please scroll down to check off your existing programs in order to renew. The deadline for the renewal form is Monday, February 22.

New! In response to the unprecedented economic challenges faced by the arts and humanities education community, the DC Collaborative is altering its Arts and Humanities for Every Student (AHFES) program. The Collaborative will charge a modest $100 listing fee per program on a “pay what you can” basis, to be invoiced per *program period. Fee invoices will be sent through our MemberClicks portal. Please note that, as of August, 2020, the DC Collaborative is only accepting credit/debit card payments through MemberClicks.
For more information about AHFES click here.

Please note that any programs that are not renewed will be removed from the DC Collaborative database and catalogue.

Inquiries?
Contact Trés McMichael, Education Programs Manager
DC Collaborative Announcement
Welcome our new School Partnerships Manager
Please give a round of applause to our new Schools Partnerships Manager, Ashlee McKinnon! Ashlee has always connected her passion for arts enrichment and education with the school system, serving as a K-12 Dance Educator in the DMV for 10 years. She has worked with and alongside prominent arts organizations in the area, such as Dance Place, Story Tapestries, and Imagination Stage, as a champion for equitable youth development and enriching arts programming. Her membership in the Arts Administrators of Color Network and as an ambassador with Arts Education in Maryland Schools shape her perspective on equitable and diverse arts and humanities programming for our future generations.

You can reach Ashlee at ashlee@dccollaborative.org for any school-related matter, concerns, and inquiries, or just to say hi!
Any Given Child DC Collective Impact Updates
Sign up for our Collective Impact Newsletter
The DC Collaborative invites its members and broader community stakeholders to sign up for the Collective Impact Newsletter. This newsletter will be sent bi-monthly and is meant for those who are interested in the District’s Collective Impact initiative, Any Given Child DC. The newsletter will contain updates on committee work and resources exploring Collective Impact as a social theory.


Any Given Child DC Committees 2021:
  • Steering Committee
  • Equity and Justice Committee
  • Assessment and Evaluation Committee
  • Programming Committee
Pop-up Survey: Organizational Health Assessment
The Equity and Justice Committee invite arts and humanities organizations to fill out a brief four question survey regarding how many employees are dedicated to work on education initiatives within their organization, presently and pre- March 13, 2020. These results will not be published and will only be used for planning purposes.
Data Visualization Project Update
Thank you for your ongoing support as we continue our strategic planning through the Collective Impact Data Project. The Collaborative is excited to start the year working with 7 focus groups for the SY17-18 data dashboards. With the abundant constructive and useful feedback we've received through our focus group convening, our SY19-20 data dashboards will be designed with more purpose for the different stakeholders in our community.


Wendy, our Community Partnerships Manager, has also just attended the AGCx2021 Shared Measurement Panel facilitated by the Kennedy Center where she discussed the Collaborative's approach to building community partnerships, data collection, and visualization. At the intersection of our public school students and arts and humanities cultural organizations in our nation's Capital, the Collaborative sits in a unique place where we have the opportunity and power to tell compelling stories of our community. We strive to collect data not just as numbers, but as tools to fill gaps and build bridges.

Questions?
Contact Wendy Wang Pisa, Manager of Community Partnerships
or Sanae Hendy, our Spring Community Partnerships intern at community@dccollaborative.org
Cherry Blossom Festival Student Art Gallery
Home is Where the Blossoms Are
The National Cherry Blossom Festival and DC Collaborative jointly invite grades K-12 students from DC public, public charter, and Japanese schools to participate in the annual Cherry Blossom Festival Student Art Gallery by submitting an artwork entry that depicts the theme "Home is Where the Blossoms Are", with a special focus on Friendship.

Instead of a contest this year, all student artworks submitted will be exhibited online and in public. And in an effort to encourage participation among as many students as possible during the pandemic, the Festival has partnered with Chase to provide art supply kits to the first 250 registered participants!

Contact our Community Projects Coordinator Kai Alexis at communications@dccollaborative.org for questions or event guidelines.
Social Media Member Takeover
New Year, New Exciting Content!
In this year’s pilot program, members will be able to submit content to be featured on our Instagram account (@dccollaborative) in the form of images, links to videos and/or websites. This is a great way to virtually engage more students, teachers, and parents with the abundant digital resources our members offer.

The content you provide will be posted according to our selected monthly themes, like our national holidays and celebrations. In addition to gaining more presence and boosting your visibility, this partnership was also created to further networking opportunities for our members.

As a DC Collaborative member, you can submit as much content as you would like and we will do our best to feature them based on our monthly thematic timeline. Some content ideas are: educational digital resources, behind-the-scenes stories, staff interviews, and event marketing related to the monthly themes. You can also tag us on your Instagram stories for us to re-share your content on our account (@dccollaborative).

Submit content using the form linked here. 

Contact our Community Projects Coordinator Kai Alexis at communications@dccollaborative.org for questions.
Membership Communication
MemberClicks Engagement

Remember that with your MemberClicks account, you have the capability to:

  1. Submit Content to our Newsletters
  2. Submit payments and invoices
  3. Update your individual or organization profile
  4. Pot events to the Community Calendar
  5. Engage and join E-lists (listservs)
  6. Submit postings to the Job Board
MemberClicks FY20-21 Communication Schedule

Now until the end of June 2021, we will be adhering to the following schedule for our MemberClicks communication:


  • 1st of each month-
DC Collaborative will send out a monthly reminder for you/ your organization to update MemberClicks with news, job postings, newsletter announcements, etc.

  • 15th of each month-
All new monthly communication will be due to us

  • 3rd week of each month-
Our monthly newsletter will go out and your new postings will be added

For content you would like to submit for the month of February 2021, you can use this form where your news will be featured (including messaging directed at schools, educators, administrators, and students).
Community Calendar
View the Collaborative's Community Calendar on our online MemberClicks Membership Portal for a list of upcoming events!
(downloadable PDF file)
Questions?
Contact Tracey Alperstein Wyton at tracey@dccollaborative.org
Ways to Give
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 to the fullest extent of the law.

  • Are you a government employee? Give through the  CFC Catalogue of Caring. We're CFC#66894
  • 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 a recipient of an FY20 General Operating Support Service Grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
The DC Collaborative is proud to receive a grant for its Collective Impact work supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The DC Collaborative is the backbone support organization that leads members of the Any Given Child DC program, part of The John F. Kennedy  Center for the Performing Arts.