Resident Organizations
Capitol Hill Art League
Capitol Hill Art League (CHAL), a visual arts program of Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (CHAW), produces and promotes juried and non-juried exhibits throughout the year. CHAL is a consortium of 100+ local artists who mount seven juried shows per year in CHAW’s Gallery Space. Artists/members are 18 years- 80+ from the DC-metro area including Virginia and Maryland. We show and sell our art work at galleries and various venues in the DC region.
Dedicated to providing show, sales and professional development opportunities to new and established artists, CHAL is run by volunteer members. Annual membership dues are $50.
Taffety Punk Theatre Company
Taffety Punk Theatre Company is CHAW’s Theater in Residence. A dynamic ensemble of actors, dancers and musicians, TPTC ignites public passion for theatre by making the classical and the contemporary exciting, meaningful and affordable.
Light Switch Dance Theatre
Light Switch Dance Theatre (est. June 2013) is a site-specific project based company dedicated to multi-disciplinary performances in non-traditional spaces. Sandra C. Atkinson, MA (Founder/Artistic Director) creates socially conscious art driven by the human condition. LSDT strives to make every space an interactive artistic place.
Serve Your City/ Ward 6 Mutual Aid
Serve Your City operates from a model of solidarity, not charity, bringing together local organizers, community members, volunteers, and grassroots partners to build sustainable support within Black and Brown communities in DC and beyond. As the infrastructure hub for Ward 6 Mutual Aid, they uplift at-promise youth, strengthen community health, and amplify the voices of neighbors, all in pursuit of Liberation. In partnership with more than 70 organizations, Serve Your City/Ward 6 Mutual Aid ensures that Black and Brown families and residents—including unhoused neighbors—have access to food, cleaning supplies, hygiene items, digital devices, and other community-identified necessities that keep neighbors safe and supported. They also provide no-cost virtual tutoring and extracurricular opportunities that give K–12 Black and Brown youth the same enriching out-of-school experiences available to their white classmates. We keep us safe!
Program Partners
Arts Institute for Creative Advancement
Arts Institute for Creative Advancement (AICA) i is an initiative of the DC Arts Education Alliance that engages youth ages 18-24 who are disconnected or disengaged from school and work and pays them to train for employment in technical fields of the arts.
Seventeen of the largest arts education organizations in the city, led by The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts, Life Pieces To Masterpieces, Sitar Arts Center, and the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, have teamed up to train young people who are disconnected from or under-engaged in school and work to enter DC’s creative economy. Through an intensive education and apprenticeship program in technical theater, youth ages 18-24 will be prepared for careers as offstage theater professionals whose roles include lighting and audio engineering, set construction, scenic painting, rigging, and stage management.
Homeless Children’s Playtime Project
Homeless Children’s Playtime Project (Playtime) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the belief that play is a human right that all children deserve, regardless of housing status. Its mission is to cultivate resilience in children experiencing family homelessness by providing and expanding access to transformative play experiences. Like CHAW, Playtime believes art is fundamental to play and helps connect families living in shelters with free classes, camps, and activities provided by CHAW.”
American Youth Chorus
American Youth Chorus (AYC) provides music education, performance experience, and community for Washington, DC-area children in grades three to eight. Artistic Director Jonathon Hampton teaches music theory and history, reading and writing of diverse music of all genres, centered on U.S. composers spanning centuries. AYC was founded in 2008 as part of a multigenerational family of choruses who they sing with and learn from—NorthEast Senior Singers and parent organization Congressional Chorus. Performance highlights include The White House, The Kennedy Center, The National Archives Museum, Library of Congress, and the U.S. Department of State. Annual concert trips and retreats take students abroad to showcase their artistic skills and develop teamwork, independence, confidence, and artistry, in addition to meeting and experiencing performances of professional caliber musicians. Several year-round AYC performances give back to DMV-area audiences at arts centers, schools, civic and community events. AmericanYouthChorus.org