Wolf Trap Awards Eight Grants To Washington, DC Metro Area Public High Schools To Fund Performing Arts Projects

Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts has awarded grants to eight teachers at public high schools in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC to fund music, dance, and theater projects in their classrooms. The grants are part of Wolf Trap's Grants for High School Performing Arts Teachers, an annual program that issues financial awards to support area public high school teachers who are working to bring new and exciting performing arts experiences to their students. All grantees and their students are invited to participate in a celebratory day of learning at Wolf Trap, followed by an evening performance opportunity at The Barns at Wolf Trap on Monday, April 24.

Teachers applied for grants within one or more categories, including Artist Residencies; Commissions; Master Classes; Technology in the Arts; Arts and the Environment; Arts Integration; and Arts and Social Change.

"In 2019, we welcomed grantees and their students to Wolf Trap for the first time to perform on stage at The Barns and participate in a celebratory day of learning, during which we gave them a peek behind the scenes of a real working arts venue, and held conversations with Wolf Trap's leaders that explored different career pathways in the arts," said Cate Bechtold, Director, Internships and Community Programs. "We received a great response from both the teachers and the students who attended, and we're excited to welcome this year's grantees and their students back for the first time since 2019, for what we hope will be another rewarding experience."

This year's grants include:

Christylez Bacon Residency

Grantee: Annie Ray

School/County: Annandale High School (Fairfax County)

Project Details: Annandale High School will welcome guest artist Christylez Bacon as an artist-in-residence to teach improvisation and composition to the school's four orchestra ensembles. Students will be encouraged to explore their own musical culture and heritage before sharing with their peers and incorporating their ideas into the final composition. At the end of his residency, Christylez Bacon will perform alongside students during a concert that showcases their work.

The Ko Project

Grantee: Al Rodriguez

School/County: Mount Vernon High School (Fairfax County)

Project Details: The goal of The Ko Project is to inspire and validate lifelong musicianship in a variety of styles. Students in composition and music technology classes will collaborate with orchestra students to explore electronic music composition and performance. With guidance from local guest artist and music producer Benjamin Gorvine (IHF), students will compose and perform three to five original works. Students will gain hands-on experience with 21st-century technology that enhances traditional orchestral instruments and has revolutionized the music industry. The project will culminate in a final performance for the school community.

Makerspaces for Dancers/Movement Exploration

Grantee: Karon Johnson

School/County: Gwynn Park High School (Prince George's County)

Project Details: In their new Makerspace for Dancers, students will explore ways to incorporate immersive technology and multimedia into their choreography. With help from Jeyvon Harvey, a local choreographer and teaching artist, students will prepare to use this technology in a series of dance concerts in the winter and spring.

World Stories on Stage

Grantee: Justin Daniel

School/County: Tuscarora High School (Loudoun County)

Project Details: In an effort to reflect the diversity and unity of stories within their community, students will work with professional playwright Paris Crayton III to turn folktales by local staff and community members into a collection of plays. The plays will be published and donated to local libraries as a permanent reminder of the community's diverse heritage.

Theater to Heal

Grantee: Sharon Asro Faber

School/County: Watkins Mill High School (Montgomery County)

Project Details: The Theater to Heal program will provide new immigrant students with a sense of community and connectedness and show them how to incorporate their own viewpoints and aesthetics into a theatrical work. Working with professional theater artist Carol Cadby, students will take part in a dramatic arts residency and work toward a culminating reflection piece.

Sonny House Showcase

Grantee: LeAnn Holden-Martin

School/County: Charles H. Flowers High School (Prince George's County)

Project Details: In a project designed to give students with special needs the opportunity to be seen by their abilities rather than their disabilities, Sonny House Showcase will partner students with cognitive disabilities and high school general education students in a performance, expressing themselves through dance and puppetry. Students will work with local artists to create original puppets representing themselves and dance routines incorporating accommodations for their physical limitations. This will culminate in an end of the year performance for family, friends, and the community.

Revitalizing Theater

Grantee: Caitlyn Schneeman

School/County: Cardozo Education Campus (DC Public Schools)

Project Details: In its inaugural year, the afterschool theater program at Cardozo Education Campus will be producing "High School Musical." The student-led production will be augmented with master classes from DC area professional artists in vocal production, choreography, and acting.

Music Direction Mentorship

Grantee: Hope Lambert

School/County: H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program (Arlington County)

Project Details: The theater department at H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program is producing a student-directed production of "The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical" for the spring 2023 season. Paige Rammelkamp, a music director and mentor, will work alongside the student director throughout the production process to help create and communicate the show's vision.

Wolf Trap's annual high school grants program acknowledges high-quality instruction and performance achievements of public high school music, dance, and theater teachers. Awardees receive a financial grant in support of special projects that align with Wolf Trap's performance and education priorities. For more information about Wolf Trap's High School Grants program visit wolftrap.org/grants.

Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts

a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, produces and presents a full range of performance and education programs in the Greater Washington area, as well as nationally. Wolf Trap features three performance venues: the outdoor Filene Center and Children's Theatre-in-the-Woods, both located at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, and The Barns at Wolf Trap, located down the road from the national park and adjacent to the Center for Education at Wolf Trap. The 7,028-seat Filene Center is operated in partnership with the National Park Service and annually showcases an extensive array of diverse artists, ranging from pop, country, folk, and blues to classical music, dance, and theatre, as well as multimedia presentations, from May through September. The Barns at Wolf Trap is operated by the Wolf Trap Foundation year-round, and during the summer months is home to the Grammy-nominated Wolf Trap Opera, one of America's outstanding resident ensemble programs for early career opera singers. Wolf Trap's education programs include the nationally acclaimed Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts, Children's Theatre-in-the-Woods, a diverse array of arts education classes, grants, and a nationally recognized internship program.

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