Keep the CHAW Magic Alive

WOW!!!  With your generosity, we raised more than $8,000 on #GivingTuesdayNow.  THANK YOU for your incredible support, and keep on checking back here and sharing.  We are on our way to making sure we can keep the #CHAWMagic alive, and we know we can do it--with your help.  Learn more about the CHAWsome work you're supporting below!

CHAW temporarily closed its doors to do our part in flattening the curve, but the spirit and energy of CHAW can’t be stopped!  In times of uncertainty, the arts and community are essential guiding lights.  Right now they're inspiring the creativity and the support to see us through these pandemic days -- together.

We've swung into action on several fronts, starting with converting our building into a food donation dropoff center and working with tenant groups through the DC Mutual Aid Network to distribute supplies to families in public housing in our ward (6).  We've collected and distributed art supplies to children in these residences, many of whom do not have internet access, which makes the need for creative outlets more important than ever.  

We've been learning--fast--about putting art tutorials, classes and private music lessons online for youth and adults, and are working with CHAW students, staff and artists from the past and present to create CHAWsome new video content, and virtual social spaces that keep us connected to each other.  

CHAW's Youth Afterschool Program continues to provide a supportive “village” for arts education in the virtual world every weekday at 4pm, just as our students have known and loved for years. Private music lessons are now taught through Skype and Zoom.  The familiarity of meeting regularly with their favorite teaching artists is particularly important for our youngest students these days.   

Recognizing the increase in time people are devoting to artistic pursuits, we've activated new networks of artists and students, taking advantage of emerging online art resources such as guest artist Instagram take-overs, online gallery exhibits, skill sharing and virtual performances. 

Our current role as a community center is a great example of how CHAW reliably grows and evolves to meet the challenges of the moment.  We need to raise $150,000 by the end of our fiscal year on August 31st. to bridge the gap left by the impact the coronavirus has had on our earned income.  There is no roadmap for what is to come, but with your support, CHAW will be there to provide desperately needed community services and creative outlets to our neighbors now and in the future.

With our sudden and most likely protracted building closures and a nation facing unprecedented unemployment, we, like so many others, are looking at earned income taking a big hit.  Our most urgent needs are sustaining general funds to keep CHAW operating and an emergency personnel fund to keep our teaching artists working at a time when earned class revenue is dramatically reduced.   

That's why we're asking for your help today to ensure that we can continue to provide essential programming and support the teaching artists and staff who make it all possible.  There are two ways to designate your donation:

1) General Operating Fund: this will help sustain operations and create a flexible digital programming infrastructure that will serve us now and long into the future, as our world necessarily changes to meet new challenges.

2) Emergency Fund for Teaching Artists:  We plan to pay our teaching artists and support their work as long as possible--we know that these are the people most likely to be hit the hardest and are committed to helping support them as they continue to help us reach more folks through this time.

We will all get through this together, and we are so grateful to you--our CHAW family--for being a part of the CHAW story.  Let's continue to hold space for community now and, crucially, when we are rebuilding and healing together--and will need creative community spaces more than ever.