The Capital Arts Partnership programs are collaborative long-term partnerships between Washington Performing Arts and DC Public Schools. Washington Performing Arts teaching artists work with DCPS music and classroom educators throughout the school year to introduce students jazz, string instruments, vocal music, and dance. The Capital Arts Partnership programs provide students with the opportunity to interact with professional musicians and dancers who, over a period of months, come into the classroom and engage students in playing their instruments, creative movement, learning about various genres of music, appreciating performances, and developing their skills in creativity and improvisation. Other skills that are emphasized include teamwork, discipline, focus, socialization, performance, self-awareness, listening and questioning. Washington Performing Arts provides performance opportunities, artist visits, and concert tickets to students and teachers throughout the school year.

The Capital Arts Partnership programs are specifically designed to meet the Common Core Arts Standards in multiple grade levels and to cultivate a student’s ability to carry out the artistic processes of:

• Creating
• Performing
• Responding

Capital Arts Partnership program components provided by Washington Performing Arts include:

• Up to 20 classroom sessions with Washington Performing Arts teaching artists; scheduled and designed with the partner teacher, in conjunction with the school principal (Partner School Cohort)
• One culminating performance for the full school population by Capital Arts Partnership students and teaching artists
• Professional development training for the principals, teachers and teaching artists to complement DCPS standards as well as the Common Core Arts Standards at DCPS Arts Teacher Professional Development Days and/or other dates throughout the school year as available
• Tickets and transportation for students, teachers, and families to attend Washington Performing Arts main stage concerts and events
• Transportation to Washington Performing Arts “Concerts for Young People” (school day concerts & performances by Washington Performing Arts main stage artists at community-based venues, including THEARC, Lisner Auditorium and Strathmore)
• Public performance opportunities for Capital Arts Partnership students when available (e.g. Millennium Stage, National Cherry Blossom Festival, National Building Museum)

Individual programs of the Capital Arts Partnership are: Capital Jazz, Capital Strings, Capital Voices, and Capital Dance.

For more information, please contact the Education Team at education@washingtonperformingarts.org.

Support for Capital Arts Partnerships is provided by Events DC; Mr. Peter Buscemi and Ms. Judith Miller; Mr. and Mrs. Sherman E. Katz, Esq.; Verizon Washington, DC; and CHIME (Community Help in Music Education).

Performances related to Washington Performing Arts’s education programs are made possible by Jacqueline Badger Mars and Mars, Incorporated.

Education programs at Washington Performing Arts are made possible in part by the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities; U.S. Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs Program; The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Park Foundation, Inc.; Mr. Bruce Rosenblum and Ms. Lori Laitman; Mr. Tom Gallagher; Mary Jo Veverka; Her Excellency Shaikha Aisha AlKhalifa, Spouse of the Ambassador, Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain; Prince Charitable Trusts; Verizon Washington, DC; The Estate of Josephine S. Huang, Ph.D.; Anonymous; The Greene-Milstein Family Foundation; Dr. J. Stephen and Mrs. Kathryn Jones; Nancy Peery Marriott Foundation; Pepco, An Exelon Company; Mr. James J. Sandman and Ms. Elizabeth D. Mullin; Linda and Isaac Stern Charitable Foundation, in memory of Isaac Stern; Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather; Québec Government Office in Washington; Mr. and Mrs. Brian Coulter; Dimick Foundation; Frank Islam and Debbie Driesman; Dr. Robert Misbin; and the George Wasserman Family Foundation, Inc. (Includes gifts of $5,000 and above as of June 28, 2021.)

Additional thanks to D.C. Public Schools for their partnership on many education programs at Washington Performing Arts.