History in the Making: Reflections from New Writers Now!

On Monday, February 7, 2011, an unprecedented number of community members from all over the DC metro area filled every available seat in GALA Hispanic Theatre to enjoy New Writers Now! – From Civil War to Civil Rights.

YPT presented original plays that explore the ways our history shapes us today, including I am a Slave by Maret School student Jack Brotman, Mercy, Mercy Me by Bell Multicultural High School student Ellen Hubbard, and Woodlawn, created collaboratively with residents and organizations throughout DC’s Ward 7.

After the performance, the audience was invited to reflect in writing on the plays they had just experienced. The results were insightful, honest, and poignant. Take a look at some of the responses, and feel free to comment below with your own thoughts!

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 The plays made me think about the big, often nasty and almost always glazed over and left unsaid conflicts in DC today.

• How do newcomers to DC, who want to be part of a community, or part of creating a new “story”, interact with the existing community?
• How do we get beyond gentrification/provocation, and the inherent conflicts of race and class that people are too ready to glaze over?
• How do we talk to one another about development and progress without resorting to caricatures or engendering greater distrust and conflict?

Theater’s a good way to air these—thanks for your work.
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My own personal belief is that history should be preserved, but in order for history to last, it must be taught. In Woodlawn, I saw the generational gap where the personal history of the Elders had not been shared with the young people. Apathy can set in, and it corrodes the history. So the responsibility falls on the previous generation to teach the next generation the history and importance of a particular area.
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My father was buried not far from where I lived as a child, but we very rarely went to the site. This was partially due to the fact that we lost him so young, and it was just too painful to live with on a regular basis. I had gone to college and my mother had moved away before I decided to try and go back. I wandered through the rows of tombstones for twenty minutes before finding his. When the people in the play talked about the necessity for a place dedicated to them, a place where they live on, I was thrown back to the near-panic state I reached during the time that I couldn’t find his stone, the fear that, in never visiting the site and revisiting his memory, I might have lost him forever.
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A young audience member responds to the play Woodlawn with a drawing.

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I think about space, place, and meaning as inscribed in the built, or un-built environment. This play was incredible in helping me realize even more the importance of learning the history of those before me who have inscribed meaning in place. And that each person has a voice, and it should be heard.

So thank you, for telling these stories.

A loyal fan and neighbor,
Liz, age 22
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Thank you to everyone who came out to GALA Hispanic Theatre to celebrate our playwrights on Monday. It meant so much to see you all there.

We hope to see you all at the New Play Festival in April. Click here to learn more.

Raina
Community Engagement Associate

Join YPT’s Get 15 to Give $15 Friend-raising Challenge and Win an Original Theatrical Piece ALL ABOUT YOU

“I was a very shy student, afraid to speak out. And here I am addressing the First Lady of the United States – and it’s all thanks to Young Playwrights’ Theater, to the arts and the humanities and to the power of my own ideas.”

– Mariana Pavón Sánchez, YPT Student, The White House

As you’ve probably heard by now, YPT received a very special 15^th birthday present this year: we won the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award. This award, presented by First Lady Michelle Obama at a private White House ceremony, honors YPT for making a marked difference in the lives of young people by improving academic scores and graduation rates, enhancing life skills, and developing positive relationships with peers and adults. Administered by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, it is the highest honor in the nation for a program like ours.

We want to provide more students like Mariana with the opportunity to achieve their dreams, but we can’t do it without you.

In this challenging economic climate, we are working to raise $50,000 by December 31 to ensure we have the resources to continue providing our nationally recognized programming.

This is where you come in. You know us. You love us. And we love you back. Over the past fifteen years, you have come to our performances, helped teach and nurture our students, followed our progress, and given generously to support our programs. We never could have come this far without you.

Will you help us?

We invite you to join YPT’s Get 15 to Give $15 Friend-Raising challenge, in honor of YPT’s 15^th birthday. By participating in the challenge, you show our students that their voices count, their ideas are valuable and their dreams are achievable. You also earn the chance to win a Big Prize (see details below).

Here’s how it works:

1. You send out a personal request to your friends, telling them why you care about YPT programming, and asking them to donate $15 to YPT this fall. Download a Friend-raising Email Template here (We encourage you to tweak it and make it your own!) Be creative about how you ask your friends. Call them, post about the contest on Facebook and Twitter, host a party/concert/bake sale to raise money for YPT, rent a blow-horn and take the challenge to the streets. This is your gig. Think about the best way to reach your community.
2. At least 15 of your friends send at least $15 to YPT. Be sure your friends note that they are donating because of you (that will put you in the running for the Big Prize).
3. The supporter who inspires the largest number of gifts to YPT (any gift we receive with a a note that mentions your name counts toward the competition) wins the Big Prize.

So what’s the Big Prize?

An original theatrical piece. About you.

That’s right. YPT students will be so grateful for the donations you inspire to ensure their programming this spring that they will thank the supporter who brings in the largest number of donations by creating a new piece of theater inspired by your life.

Cool, right?

Thank you, in advance, for being amazing and taking the Get 15 to Give $15 Friend-raising Challenge this fall. Together, I know we can reach our $50,000 goal and ensure that YPT’s programs are available for our students this spring, and for many years to come.

Brigitte
Development Director

A Guide to Acronyms and Agencies in DC’s Arts Education Landscape

by Brigitte Pribnow Moore

As an LEA, DCPS is under pressure from NCLB to meet AYP each year. Thanks to Title I of the ESEA, the most underserved schools have more resources to help students meet DCPS Learning Standards when the OSSE administers the DC CAS this year. Isn’t the NAEP happening soon as well? Better consult the OPGD for information on upcoming funding opportunities for arts educators. Hopefully the DCCAH can help this spring. Too bad so few government funders accept the WRAG.

Say what?

Need some help navigating the alphabet soup of DC’s arts education landscape? Here are some handy definitions and online resources:

LEA – Local Education Agency, which may include a school district, or a charter school. 

DCPS – District of Columbia Public Schools.

NCLB – No Child Left Behind, United States federal legislation signed into law January 8, 2002, aimed at improving the performance of U.S. primary and secondary schools by 2014, by:

• Increasing standards of accountability for states, school districts and schools;
• Providing parents with more flexibility in choosing which schools their children attend;
• Increasing focus on teaching every student to read;
• Re-authorizing the Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965 (ESEA), a statute which funds primary and secondary education.

President Obama recently laid out his proposal for a complete overhaul of No Child Left Behind, which is currently being considered by Congress. Check out this recent Washington Post article  for more information.

ESEA – Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965 – statute reauthorized under NCLB, funding primary and secondary education, specifically for educators’ professional development, instructional materials, resources to support educational programs, and promotion of parental involvement

Title I – First Title of the ESEA, distributes funding to schools and school districts with 40% or more students from low-income families (qualifying under U.S. Census definitions of low-income).

AYP – Adequate Yearly Progress, a measurement defined by the U.S. No Child Left Behind Act that allows the U.S. Department of Education to demonstrate a school’s progress towards reaching the national goal of 100% student proficiency in Reading and Mathematics in all schools by the year 2014. Standardized assessments are used as a diagnostic tool that determines how schools need to improve and where financial resources should be allocated. All K-12 DC public schools are required to demonstrate AYP in the area of reading/language arts, mathematics, and either graduation rates, for high schools and districts, or attendance rates, for elementary and middle/junior high schools. A school that fails to meet AYP for two consecutive years becomes a “School in Need of Improvement”. A school that fails to meet AYP for five consecutive years may be “Restructured”.

DC BAS – DC Benchmark Assessment System, which helps DCPS track student progress and achievement throughout the year for students in grades 3-10.

DC CAS – DC Comprehensive Assessment System, which is administered once a year in DCPS classrooms and demonstrates how well students are meeting grade-level standards in the areas of English Language Arts and Mathematics. Every DC Public School has been assigned an NCLB status based upon its performance on the DC CAS. Every year a school does not meet AYP,  it is “flagged” with a status that requires more attention to that school. If a school does not meet AYP for five years in a row, it enters “restructuring” status requiring a significant school turnaround. The test is taken by students in grades 3-8 and grade 10, and administered each April.

OSSE – Office of the State Superintendent for Education, which sets statewide policies, provides resources and support, and exercises accountability for all public education in DC, including managing the DC CAS.

NAEP – National Assessment of Educational Progress, which is a test that is taken nationally and allows each state to compare its students with students in other states.

OPGD – Office of Partnerships and Grants Development, a DC agency that establishes partnerships between public and private, for-profit and nonprofit organizations, and pursues financial support and technical assistance from public and private sources toward improving the quality of life for DC residents. OPGD has a wonderful website that shares upcoming DC grant opportunities.

DCCAH – DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, a DC agency with a mission “to provide grants, programs and educational activities that encourage diverse artistic expressions and learning opportunities, so that all District of Columbia residents and visitors can experience the rich culture of our city.” They provide a variety of competitive grants for both organizations and individual artists.

WRAG – Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers, which promotes and supports effective, strategic, and efficient charitable investment in the Greater Washington region. They have established a Common Grant Application format, aimed at making the grant process more efficient, which is used by many funders in the DC region.

Hope this list is helpful. Does anyone have any other suggestions for acronyms we should include?