Fillmore Arts Center / a DCPS Arts Elementary School

Hello all. Just checking in to say all is well and making sure FB knows that we are still posting here. More later. Take good care of yourselves.

FILLMORE SUMMER ARTS CAMP is happening this year!
It's a smaller camp and just as much fun. COVD safe.
Due to a schedule mix-up, we currently we have an URGENT last minute need for a visual arts teacher. Details below.

Monday 18, 2022 - Friday July 29, 2022 (2 weeks)
Small art classes with less than 12 kids.
Pay negotiable starting $30/hr
Must be committed to 2 full weeks.

M-F
HOURS:
Monday & Thursday
10:45 - Noon
12:30 -1:30

Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
12:30 - 1:30
1:55 - 2:55

Reply to Mari Bianchi
[email protected]

1819 35th St NW, 3rd floor (same location as the past 46 years)

Greetings all,

I learned this morning that Fillmore Arts Center, as we all know and love, will no longer be funded by DCPS. While this announcement saddens me, it did not surprise me. We have had a long and amazing history of providing a variety of the arts to children of the District of Columbia. Our founding mothers and fathers launched a community effort in public education in 1973. Theirs was a extraordinary vision and hard won effort to re-imagine the closing of a school property to champion and recognize the importance of arts education for the development of well educated, culturally literate children.

The awards have been many (Mayor's Arts Award, Rockefeller Bros. Excellence in Arts Education, Network of Visual and Performing Arts Schools National Award for Excellence in Arts Instruction, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, just to name a few) but the rewards far out weigh these recognitions. To see the spark in a child's eye when they "get it" in tech class or play their first chord or master a difficult step or memorize a poem or explain the ceramic process - all of these are magical moments but no more important than the day to day arts experiences that took place each and every day.

I want to personally thank each and every teacher that graced the halls of Fillmore Arts - each one gave us a gift of their time and talent. Each board member of the Friends of Fillmore bestowed upon the community their wisdom, time and energy. Sara Friendly, for nearly 37 years was our own whirlwind Director of Fillmore Arts Workshop, and graced us with skill, wit and energy. We were fortunate to have two, strong former Director's, Pat Mitchell and Katherine Lattener guide us wisely into new era's of educational pedagogy.

We recognize our school partners throughout the years which include: Barnard ES, Burrville ES, Garrison ES, Hardy MS, Hearst ES, Hyde ES, Key ES, Ludlow-Taylor ES, Mann ES, Marie Reed ES, Oyster-Adams EC, Raymond EC, River Terrace EC, Ross ES, Stoddert ES, and West ES. We touched the lives of thousands of students and families and inspired many teachers from these schools to integrate the arts into academic lessons.

We can be proud of our commitments to equity, our guiding of artistic pursuits, our individual gifts and dogged determination to advocate for arts education (often in the face of enormous difficulties) and our successes with students.

And so, a new chapter must begin. Our world is quite different than it was 47 years ago when Fillmore began. Now we must consider the environmental effects of busing 1000 students per week, the costs of multiple specialists, instructional time lost with travel and the mandated demands on teacher/students time.

I have so many wonderful memories of Fillmore and I know that many of you do to. May I suggest a throwback challenge? Let's keep our collective memories alive and post them here.

It has been my great honor to lead the Fillmore Arts Center for the past 7 years and to have spent many creative years teaching my passion - dance.

Thank you all.

Live Artfully,

Maggie Meenehan

I have to include these words from E. Hemingway:

"Live the full life
of the mind,
exhilarated by
new ideas,
intoxicated by
the romance
of the unusual."

https://youtu.be/hLr2GNRnmXM

Gender Equality Explained By Children Original Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jax54E2GWWg Brilliant work by Finansforbundet (www.finansforbundet.dk) on Gender Equality, explained in ...

https://youtu.be/nCS7Rus4_-Y

Equity and Equality "Equity and Equality," part of the University of Maine's Rising Tide Center and its 5-Minute Professional Development Series: The Current.

We are sad to see the retirement of our wonderful and creative director, Maggie Meenehan. Ms Meenehan excelled as a dance teacher at Fillmore for many years before moving into the role of director. Her passion for the arts and the arts education of children is inspiring and and limitless. She will be greatly missed.

SPECIAL THANK YOU FROM FILLMORE AND Ms POLLET, DIgital Arts. "In my class I teach a number of arts applications including Plasq's Comic Life!, and Dragonframe by DZED Systems. We would like to extend a very SPECIAL "Thank You" to Mark at PLASQ, the company that makes Comic Life!, and to Veronica Wedin and staff at DZED systems, the makers of Dragonframe, for their gracious support in providing FREE software licenses for my students to use at home through December 1, 2020."