The Washington region has an extraordinary arts and culture scene - with vibrant small theater groups that this year stole the show at the Helen Hayes Awards: six top honors went to the upstart Synetic Theater including Best Resident Play. Old plays, new plays, even silent plays; bilingual, multicultural plays like those offered by GALA (first featured in '04; see our icon for re-featured charities) that inspire and educate. Imagine for a moment what the world would be like without them; imagine the halls silent, the stages and the gallery walls blank.

Browse the 2008-09 Culture Charities

And yet this year, in the poorest economy in decades, we will likely worry more than ever about our ability to support the arts in the face of more pressing needs. The answer may simply be that we need to dig deep to maintain a culture without which our lives would be vastly emptier than anyone wants to think. Besides, the same groups that enliven our evenings labor hard during the day to make life safer, and richer, for the children of this community. Dance Place performs and presents - and also maintains a youth troupe that keeps kids off the streets and busily engaged during the dangerous hours after school. Each organization in our community arts section - from the hip hop group to the classical youth orchestra, from the performing arts group to the visual arts and mural making organizations - draws on the power of the arts community to serve its young people. Building Bridges Across the River, which manages an extraordinary arts center in Ward 8 where nearly half the children live in poverty, is the lifeline for 2,000 kids. What would they do without it?