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Olympia, WA and Vienna, VA (Oct. 24, 2023) – Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts and ArtsWA, the Washington State Arts Commission, have announced a partnership that will bring Wolf Trap’s customizable arts-based teaching and learning programs to early childhood classrooms in Washington State. The partnership creates Washington State Wolf Trap, Wolf Trap’s newest addition to a growing network of 26 affiliates across the United States and Singapore.
Wolf Trap and its affiliates work collaboratively with schools to deliver vital virtual and in-person classroom residencies, professional development workshops for teachers, and family workshops that serve the unique needs of their communities. The affiliate program is operated under Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts, a program of Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts based in Vienna, VA. Through Wolf Trap’s education programs, including the work of the Institute and its affiliates, Wolf Trap serves nearly 100,000 children, families, and educators each year.
Washington State Wolf Trap will deliver services in Educational Service District 123 (Pasco, WA) immediately and will branch out to surrounding communities in eastern Washington in successive academic years. The new affiliate’s work in the early childhood space will complement ArtsWA’s support of high quality, standards-based arts education throughout the state.
“The Arts Commission was created with the mission to nurture and support the role of the arts in the lives of all Washingtonians,” said Karen Hanan, Executive Director, ArtsWA. “We believe that the arts foster our children’s success in school. Through our partnership with Wolf Trap, we’ll be able to provide our teachers with the type of professional development they need to facilitate more meaningful learning experiences for children, through the arts.”
Washington State Wolf Trap programs will be designed for children in preschool and kindergarten and their educators. Programs will introduce arts-based lessons that illustrate key curricular concepts such as literacy and social-emotional learning, incorporating song, movement, imaginative play, and musical instruments, to equip teachers with skills to infuse active learning through the arts in their instruction with every classroom of children they teach.
“We’re excited to be able to expand our work in the United States through this new partnership with ArtsWA,” said Akua Kouyate-Tate, Vice President of Education at Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. “ArtsWA plays a pivotal role throughout the state in advancing the role of the arts in the lives of its individuals and communities. We are excited to help them build strong relationships with educators in the early childhood community, and create opportunities for families to interact with one another and prosper, through joyful, active learning.”
Through professional teaching artists trained in the Wolf Trap model, Wolf Trap Institute delivers customized, in-class professional development to early childhood educators using proven, arts-based strategies that reach across curricula and support development in key areas like language, literacy, math, science, and social-emotional development. Teaching artists engage in multi-day residencies, during which they meet one-on-one with teachers to create custom lesson plans that align with their curriculum objectives. During these residencies teaching artists work in the classroom alongside the teacher to engage students in arts-based learning experiences, slowly allowing the teacher to lead the lesson using these strategies.
For more information about Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts, visit www.wolftrap.org/education.
For more information about ArtsWA, visit arts.wa.gov.
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