Paint Bucket 2020

Happy Wednesday! Thanks as always for your totally CHAWsome support. We are getting SO CLOSE to the goal here, and we know we can make it over the line with a little help from our friends. The match is still on, so you can tell everyone you know that their contribution will be DOUBLY impactful this week. 

And if you're wondering where those dollars will be going and what we have in store for the fall, Shahidah Abdul-Lateef, Education and Community Relations Coordinator here at CHAW, has the scoop!  Check out her message below and please share away--emails, social media, and word of mouth make all the difference in the world to us and help make sure we can get great art to ALL kids this year and always.

Thanks for being CHAW Champions!!  We <3 you.

THANK YOU for the incredible outpouring of support for our Paint Bucket Campaign. We're over halfway to our fundraising goal, and we just got some great news: The Cafritz Foundation is going to match $5,000. So we're extending our campaign another week, and we know we can make it over the finish line to smash our goal--with YOUR help.  

We believe that diversity leads to better art. And better art makes better justice. Paint Bucket is about the right sharing of resources to make sure everyone has access to great arts experiences and a chance to be a part of the community-building that is so much a part of CHAW.

So we're hoping YOU, our most dedicated advocates and champions, can help us get the word out about the work we're supporting together and about this exciting match in our final week of the campaign. Can you share the campaign with friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues, to help spread our message far and wide and make sure ALL kids have the resources to participate in great and joyful arts experiences this fall? Sharing the campaign truly makes a HUGE difference, and we appreciate our CHAWsome community rallying around Paint Bucket, as you always do, to support our kids and make our city a little more joyful and a little more equitable.

P.S. Watch this space this week for more fun videos, updates, and more from your friends at CHAW. We are grateful for you!

Happy Saturday! We're so happy to share a sneak peek at what's going on behind the scenes at CHAW these days with our Program Director, Stephanie Morse. Check out the video and come on a tour of CHAW with us!  

Wow!  We're almost to the halfway point, and it means so much to us to see the level of support pouring in to help students access CHAW's programs. THANK YOU for your engagement, and we hope you'll share the love with friends, family, colleagues, neighbors, and everyone you know: every single share is a new person we can reach, and it's amazing to see how folks are pitching in from all over to support this work of ensuring ALL kids have access to great arts experiences. 

One of our CHAWsome students creates an art piece during Zoom summer camp!

Today, we wanted to share with you just a few words from families who participated in summer camp:

"He's been so engaged - as you can tell! - and I think that is mainly the result of how engaged you and the other instructors are with him and the other children. He really feels seen and heard and he has so much to share with you, which is not how he always is with other grownups. The projects have been pitched just right for his age and ability and he can do most everything on his own (which is a boon for his parents!)."

"Thank you again for another fun week!! [He] has been using his super hero pieces from a month ago (!!? -- time flies!) for dress up, carrying his shield around almost daily since creating it last week and telling us fun things he learned about space. He definitely enjoyed all the weeks and loved the continuity of seeing Ms. Shahidah, Ms. Sara and Ms. Stephanie each day. I loved that he could (mostly) do everything without my help ;)  He adds, "I loved the camps. Myths and legends was my favorite week."

These words from families bring us so much joy. We loved getting to "be together," even if we couldn't be in our building, and we especially loved getting to be a consistent part of the day for families. 

Partnerships are at the heart of CHAW's organizational principles, and we truly believe that "a rising tide lifts all boats."  We're working with our partners to ensure that we can be here for ALL of our kids, making art in community in the fall, no matter what that takes. We are so grateful for our partners and the people who power all of this work: YOU!

Happy Monday, CHAW community! This week, we want to give you a peek behind the scenes at all we have going on at CHAW right now and what's coming up--everything that YOU are making possible with your support.

Pranav Nanda, an organizer with the Ward 6 Mutual Aid Network. 

Recognize the dance studio?! Today, it is taking on a new role, as Ward 6 Mutual Aid organizers fill back-to-school backpacks for kids in need in DC.  The boxes in the photo here include laptops/devices for digital learning, internet hotspots, PPE/masks, books, recreational equipment, and--from CHAW--art supplies (check them out below)!

Art supplies for back-to-school backpacks.

We loved seeing volunteers, safely distanced and wearing masks, starting to pack the backpacks here at CHAW over the weekend--with more to come next Saturday. The Ward 6 Mutual Aid Network has received requests for 345 backpacks so far, and we're so glad to be able to provide the art kits for all of them.  And we've already created and distributed 400+ art kits so far through our partnership with the Homeless Children's Playtime Project. 

You've heard us say before that we've never turned a student away for inability to pay for an arts class. Today, there's a whole new meaning behind that--and we want to thank you for helping us get CHAWsome art supplies to ALL kids. Because the arts--and CHAW--are for everyone!