This year’s arts organizations are truly creating common ground:reaching out to audiences through open rehearsals and discussion; performing in church basements, multipurpose

Browse the 2006 Culture Charities

rooms, and schools;embracing multicultural and mixed-ability actors and crew;integrating arts into the school curriculum; and bringing people together in libraries and through performance. Whether they are celebrating and promoting the Washington theatre scene, working with kids in correctional facilities, or collecting instruments and sheet music for gifted students who can’t afford them, they share a driving spirit. Together, they celebrate the beauty and power of music, dance, literature, and theatre; explore the fact of our common humanity; and strive to create equal access for all. In education, the mission is the same: in a universe of low-performing schools, it’s time to reimagine and recreate. Schools need strong and creative leaders. They need to empower their minority students, narrow the achievement gap, inspire their charges, make learning vital and alive. For some, basic literacy is the bottom line, the point of entry to everything else. For others, access to top-notch secondary school programs is the critical need; when students graduate, college access – and the support that makes staying there possible – is a top priority. It’s a challenging bill of fare, but the organizations you will meet in the following pages are rising to the challenge. You can, too.