Arts Education at The District School
The District School envisions an arts program that is not simply an enrichment, but a defining part of every student’s education.
The District School fosters a vibrant arts culture where creativity is an essential part of each student’s formation.
Goals for our program
The District School envisions an arts program that is not simply an enrichment, but a defining part of every student’s education—cultivating creativity, wonder, discipline, and confident self-expression. We are committed to providing all students with a full year of visual arts, music, and drama, thoughtfully woven into the fabric of school life. Through community showcases, arts-centered field trips, and intentional teacher development, we are building a culture where every child is recognized as a creator and given meaningful opportunities to share their work.
As we look ahead, we plan to expand artistic pathways by introducing digital arts and instrumental programs, deepening partnerships with arts organizations across the city, and growing arts-focused after-school opportunities. This vision invites a community of supporters who believe in the transformative power of the arts. Together, we can shape imaginative thinkers, collaborative leaders, and courageous storytellers—students prepared not only to appreciate beauty, but to create it.
Goals for our students
Cultivate a Habit of Attention to Beauty
Develop Artistic Skills Through Practice, Not Perfection
Engage with Great Art and Artists
Express Personal Ideas and Emotions Through Art
Create from Observation and Imagination
Arts Classes and Curriculum
Art & Art History
The District School offers both studio art (three times a month) and art history (once a month), along with artist and artifact studies embedded within classroom learning. Through art, students develop an appreciation for beautiful work, study and imitate great works across genres, learn techniques used by master artists, and express themselves across a variety of media.
In addition, students benefit from access to world-class, free art museums in DC. We regularly take students to sit before masterpieces and learn through thoughtfully curated, in-person museum experiences that deepen observation, reflection, and artistic understanding.
Music
The elementary music program at The District School is rooted in the belief that all children are musical and capable of deep musical understanding when learning is joyful, developmentally appropriate, and well sequenced. Through a solfège-based approach, students first learn to hear, sing, read, and write music using their voices and percussion instruments, building strong musical literacy in kindergarten through third grade before transitioning to instruments in fourth grade.
Music learning is active and participatory, engaging students through singing, movement, listening, and play.
Drama
Students participate in drama once a week, developing skills in voice, body and movement, story and character, collaboration and ensemble, and performance. Instruction is rooted in games, improvisation, and scene work to promote teamwork and give lots of “at-bats” with acting.
Students perform regularly, including chapel, Celebrations of Learning, and larger performances at the middle and end of the year. This year, we partnered with the Academy of the Arts to present a production of The Tortoise and the Hare, deepening their experience of collaborative, ensemble-based theater.
Partner with our arts education program
As we seek to build out a robust and complete arts education program, these are some of the tools that will sustainably equip us. We are looking for partners to support us in fulfilling our program goals.
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Watercolor sets, brushes, and paper
Acrylic paints and canvases
Pastels, colored pencils, and drawing paper
Clay and pottery tools (modeling clay, sculpting tools, kilns)
Easels and painting tables
Storage and organization for supplies
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Orff instruments (xylophones, glockenspiels, tone chimes)
Rhythm instruments (drums, tambourines, shakers, claves)
Recorders, guitars, and other beginner instruments
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Puppets and props
Stage and set materials (backdrops, curtains, portable stage props)
Continued partnership with Logos Theater for annual camp and production
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Donations to cover stipends to instructors who plan and teach high-quality weekly lessons and collaborate with teachers on the integration of the arts in the curriculum.
Over time, as the school and budget grow, we hope to have part- or full-time arts educators. In the short term, we rely on volunteerism. The ability to offer our volunteer teachers a stipend will be a way to honor their time; especially as we ask them to teach and plan in alignment with the vision for the arts at The District School.