Childrens Art Studio

The Childrens Art Studio, Washington DC, provides direct creative arts instruction to over 450 young students per week and professional development workshops for 60 teachers from 11 schools throughout the academic year. The organization is founded on the belief that young people reap tremendous emotional, developmental and intellectual gains from making art and that this opportunity should be made available to all. The Children's Art Studio has a strategic partnership with Educare, located in the Parkside neighborhood in Ward 7 and the Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus in Ward 8. Our work with young children aims to eliminate the opportunity gap to access quality arts instruction for those experiencing poverty in Washington, DC. By creating the conditions to deeply engage in creating art, the program promotes growth across a wide range of domains, producing positive advancement for children's learning in the classroom and beyond. Our students experience the overall benefits of creativity, which brings a sense of calm, stability and joy.Our professional development workshops give teachers from every part of the city the opportunity to develop new skills and processes, and incorporate art making pedagogy into their overall lesson plans. Teachers receive individualized coaching to improve their capacity and fidelity. Teachers are encouraged to shift the social-emotional learning environment in their classrooms through engaging and structured art lessons, and to enhance student learning by using a rich variety of materials and methods.