




places for kids just to have fun. They will strengthen their bodies and explore their imaginations without it having to be "work" for them. VIRGINIA Art at the Center, 2804 Sherwood Hall Lane, Alexandria, VA 22306, 703-581-5598, info@artatthecenter.org Art at the Center is an art studio designed specifically for children and their families. We emphasize the use of natural and recycled materials as well as traditional art media. The studio is a learning laboratory where experimentation is encouraged and students can practice thinking skills and problem solving as they engage in projects. The arts are seen as languages for children to express their ideas, working both individually and collaboratively in a group setting. The studio environment is designed to provoke curiosity and wonder and to encourage active engagement with the materials and with each other. Peer feedback and building relationships is a key part of the creative and learning process. The idea for Art at the Center came from our desire to collaborate as educators and to create a place for exploring the connections between arts and learning. Our studio is inspired by the ateliers in the schools of Reggio Emilia Italy, and informed by education theories emphasizing inquiry-based learning. MARYLAND Create Arts Center, 816 Thayer Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910, 301-588-2787, www.createartscenter.org Accepts children with mild disabilities who can be integrated into a typical classroom setting. Also works individually and in small groups with autistic children. WVSA ARTs Connection, 1100 16th St., NW, Washington, DC 20036-4802, 202- 296-9100, info@wvsarts.org WVSA ARTs connection (formerly Washington Very Special Arts) is a dynamic nonprofit organization that has served Washington, DC area children and youth with special needs, special talents, and special skills since 1981. Employing the arts as an innovative method of education, WVSA provides the tools for success in school, in adulthood, and in life, through an employment-training program and associated outreach programs.
4908 Auburn Ave., Bethesda, MD 301-280-1660, www.imaginationstage.org. Provides supportive, safe access to theater arts classes for young people with physical, developmental, language and/or cognitive disabilities.
Access at Imagination Stage endeavours to create an inclusive and welcoming environment and equitable access to all artistic and educational programming for students, staff, and visitors of all abilities. Imagination Stage offers: ● Arts Access classes and programs designed specifically for the needs of students with cognitive, language, gross motor, or developmental disabilities. ● Deaf Access classes and programs designed specifically for the needs of deaf and hard-of-hearing students. ● Inclusion support for children of all abilities. Imagination Stage encourages children of all abilities to discover and develop their full creative potential through the performing arts. We work with students and their caregivers to identify and provide the most successful scenario for each student whether in a peer group Access class or in a general classroom setting with reasonable and appropriate inclusion supports. All placements provide children a safe and welcoming environment to develop and enhance language, gross motor, developmental, cognitive, social and life-learning skills. Imagination Stage is a National Affiliate of Kids Included Together. Inclusion in Imagination Stage Summer Camps is generously supported by the National Inclusion Project. |