FRIENDS and CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE PROGRAMS

The Friends and Chairman’s Circle are annual giving programs that sustain our wide-ranging artistic work that inspires, educates, and connects us. Join the Friends program today with a gift of $75 or more, or the Chairman’s Circle of our leadership supporters with a gift of $2,500 or more, and partner with us to bring Washington Performing Arts’s mission to life and to deepen your connection with other arts lovers.

With our pivot to digital artistic content in our Home Delivery Plus 2021 series, we held a host of fabulous virtual events throughout the year to celebrate the art, meet the artists, encourage conversations, and bring us together. These events complemented our programs while highlighting our core values, and they provided a way for us to say thank you to all our dedicated Friends for their generous, sustained support.

Become a Friend

Join the Friends or Chairman’s Circle today and start enjoying great events and other special benefits as we look to the 2021/22 Season. Or, increase your level of giving to participate in more of these unique experiences in the coming months.

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Thank you for your generous support!

Past Events

Take a look at the way we invited Friends to connect with us in 2020/21! Included below are the recordings of the first two 2020/21 Friends events—here for you to enjoy whether you missed the events, want to re-watch them, or want to share with your family and friends:

Mars Arts DC: Virtual Rhythm & Motion Pre-Premiere Happy Hour
Monday, October 19, 5:30pm ET
(Open to all Friends at the $75 level and above)

Come socialize virtually with President & CEO Jenny Bilfield and fellow Friends of Washington Performing Arts and get the inside scoop on our newest artistic series, Mars Arts DC: Virtual Rhythm & Motion, as we celebrate our opening event of fall 2020.

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The Juice: Conversations with Jenny, First Edition
Friday, October 30, 5pm ET
(Open to all Friends at the $75 level and above)

Enjoy a new series of conversations between Jenny Bilfield, our President & CEO, and inspiring entrepreneurs from around the world of arts and culture. They’ll explore relevant and meaningful topics that illuminate what the arts mean to them.

In her first conversation, Jenny invites three dynamic leaders—Charlotte Lee, President and Founder at Primo Artists; Terri Allen, Executive Director at Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts (CAAPA); and James Ginsburg, President, Cedille Chicago, NFP—to share their thoughts on The Music that Makes Us: What Propels Us Forward?

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Mars Arts DC: Virtual Dance in DC Pre-Premiere Happy Hour
Monday, November 30, 6:15pm ET
(Open to all Friends at the $75 level and above)

Come socialize virtually with President & CEO Jenny Bilfield, Mars Arts DC: Virtual curator and Chief Operating Officer & Director of Finance C. Lorenzo Evans III, Women’s Committee First Vice President and guest mixologist Denise Rollins, and fellow Friends of Washington Performing Arts—and get the inside scoop on our latest fall 2020 artistic series. Then enjoy the series premiere of Mars Arts DC: Virtual Dance in DC at 7pm!

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Sips & Songs: Virtual Holiday Party
Co-hosted by Washington Performing Arts Junior Board
Wednesday, December 9, 7pm ET
(Open to Friends at the $250 level and above)

Enjoy an evening with friends and music—toast the holidays; learn to make Oven-Broiled Oysters Rockefeller with founding Junior Board member Ebony Thomas; get your game on in some friendly, virtual competitions like our Ugly Holiday Sweater Contest; and cap off the evening with a festive mix of holiday favorites and pop classics by The String Queens, in a sneak preview of their debut on Home Delivery Plus on Friday, December 11.

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Children of the Gospel Choir Open Rehearsal
Monday, January 11, 6:30pm ET
(Open to all Friends at the $75 level and above)

Join us for a unique insider’s view of the Children of the Gospel Choir in action, this season in an all-new virtual way.

We will gather virtually prior to the rehearsal to meet our amazing, dynamic Washington Performing Arts Gospel Music Programs team, get updates on the Gospel Music Programs, and ask questions. Then, we will visit the virtual rehearsal room to observe the rehearsal as the choir members participate in a virtual masterclass and receive feedback from their peers and choir faculty. Finally, guests will be invited to join the choir in a sing-along!

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Lift Every Voice: The Power of Music in the Fight for Social Justice
A Panel Discussion with Michele Fowlin, Theodore Thorpe III, and Anthony Walker
Moderated by Raynetta Wiggins-Jackson, Ph.D.
Friday, February 5, 5pm ET
(Open to all Friends at the $75 level and above)

In anticipation of our upcoming presentation of Living the Dream…Singing the Dream, the 33rd annual choral tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with Choral Arts, our Gospel Music Programs directors will explore gospel and African American music and their relationship to social justice. Their discussion will be moderated by Dr. Raynetta Wiggins-Jackson, Washington Performing Arts’s Manager of Choir Curriculum and Performance.

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Movement workshop with Brinae Ali, dancer and vocalist
Wednesday, February 24, 5:30pm ET
(Open to Friends at the $500 level and above)

Virtuoso tap dancer, choreographer, and vocalist Brinae Ali will show us how to shake off the “zoom fatigue” and stay active in advance of her performance on Home Delivery Plus with trumpeter Sean Jones. No dance experience is necessary to participate!

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Listening Party with J’Nai Bridges, mezzo soprano
hosted by Elizabeth Racheva
Wednesday, March 10, 7:30pm ET
(Open to all Friends at the $75 level and above)

Our Chief Advancement Officer, Elizabeth Racheva, who has nurtured a parallel career as an acclaimed classical vocalist and programmer, will host a listening party (and wine tasting) with J’Nai Bridges, in connection with Ms. Bridges’s upcoming performance exploring themes of uplift and community on Home Delivery Plus. Enhance your listening party experience with a trio of vintages from Theopolis Vineyards; tasting co-presented in partnership with Woman-Owned Wineries (more details here!).

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The Juice: Conversations with Jenny, Second Edition
Saturday, March 20, 11:30am ET
(Open to all Friends at the $75 level and above)

Jenny Bilfield, our President & CEO, invites four dynamic producers in the industry—Janet Cowperthwaite, Executive Director, Kronos Performing Arts Association and Manager, Kronos Quartet; Rika Iino, Founder/Producer, SOZO Artists (and recent Patrick Hayes Award recipient from the International Society of Performing Arts); Beth Morrison, President and Creative Producer, BMP (Beth Morrison Projects); and Anthony “Tony” Walker, Music Director, Washington Performing Arts Gospel Choirs—to share how they “make it happen” from the vantage point of producer.

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Masterclass with Alisa Weilerstein, cello
Monday, April 12, 7pm ET
(Open to Friends at the $500 level and above)

Get a front-row seat to observe Alisa Weilerstein, one of the foremost cellists of our time, work with student artist Ethan Oh, one of the winners of the Advanced Cello category of the 2020 Joseph and Goldie Feder Memorial String Competition, in a masterclass in advance of Ms. Weilerstein’s performance on Home Delivery Plus.

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Embassy Adoption Program signature event:
Mini United Nations Simulations
Friday, June 4, 9am and 12:30pm ET
(Open to all Friends at the $75 level and above)

A unique element of the Embassy Adoption Program, a partnership with D.C. Public Schools, Mini United Nations Simulations feature select 5th and 6th grader student delegates convening in a General Assembly situation to debate and vote on resolutions relating to global challenges, like climate change, on behalf of their adopted country.

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Washington Performing Arts: Then and Now
Celebrating Milestones with Doug Wheeler and Jenny Bilfield
Friends Annual Celebration
Friday, June 25, 4pm ET
(Open to the Public)

Reflections and visions in celebrating Washington Performing Arts’s milestones and five decades of resilience and creativity with Douglas Wheeler, our President Emeritus, and Jenny Bilfield, our President & CEO—plus an update on our plans for the 2021/22 Season and a celebration of our dedicated Friends of Washington Performing Arts who make all our work possible. Thank you!

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 Listening Party celebrating Hazel Scott at 101
hosted by Murray Horwitz
Friday, July 30, 5pm ET
(Open to Friends at the $1,500 level and above)

Join Washington Performing Arts Artist-in-Residence Murray Horwitz for a sneak peek of our special production next season, Hazel Scott at 101, to commemorate unsung American cultural powerhouse Hazel Scott (June 11, 1920–October 2, 1981) and celebrate her 101st birthday.

QUESTIONS?

For questions about the Friends or Chairman’s Circle programs, or to join by phone, please call Meiyu Tsung at (202) 533-1880 or email MTsung@WashingtonPerformingArts.org.

Interested in other ways to give to Washington Performing Arts, or giving vehicles that we accept? Learn more about ways to give here.

Banner images – (from left) Jake Jones, Washington Performing Arts Honorary Board member and Executive Director, External Affairs & Public Policy at Daimler, with bassist Esperanza Spalding and President & CEO Jenny Bilfield; cellist Yo-Yo Ma with past Board chair Alexine Clement Jackson.

Images above - (from left) Washington Performing Arts President & CEO Jenny Bilfield with special guests: Charlotte Lee, Terri Allen, and James Ginsburg at The Juice: Conversations with Jenny; Jake Jones, Honorary Board member and Executive Director, External Affairs & Public Policy at Daimler, and wife Veronica Nyhan-Jones visit jazz pianist Matthew Whitaker backstage; Junior Board member Manasi Tirodkar and husband Ajay Tirodkar pose at a Washington Performing Arts event; Washington Performing Arts Virtual Holiday Party, Sips & Songs, co-hosted by the Junior Board, featuring The String Queens and Junior Board member Ebony Thomas.