Phillips@THEARC
We welcome artmakers of all ages and experience levels to our free programs.
Phillips@THEARC Exhibitions and Events
Community Exhibitions
Phillips@THEARC offers free programs where artists can engage in community-based art, history, and culture. Our community exhibitions at 21st Street and at Phillips@THEARC provide opportunities to show the important works of art made by our communities.
Programs
Public Programs
Virtual
- Meditation: A 30-minute, weekly meditation led by local yoga teacher Aparna Sadananda.
In person
- Hands-On Artist Led Workshops: Local artists discuss their work and teach art making techniques.
Partner Programs
Apple Tree
“Family Stories” is an opportunity for AppleTree families to celebrate their journeys and histories as they connect with artwork from The Phillips Collection. During each workshop we look at artworks that show the importance of family history, share stories from writers and illustrators, and practice art techniques, including painting, printing, drawing, collaging, and bookmaking. At the end of the six-week session, the projects are celebrated and displayed in an exhibition at Phillips@THEARC.
Creative Aging
Creative Aging is a multi-visit, conversation-based art experience for older adults with memory loss, low vision, and other chronic cognitive and physical conditions, linking art and wellness. Our partners include Iona Senior Services, in Northwest and Southeast DC; Arts for the Aging, throughout the DC area; and Congress Heights Senior Wellness Center in Southeast DC.
School Programs
Free Field Trips to the Phillips
The Phillips offers free field trips to the museum for all DCPS and DCPCS schools.
Free Teacher Training
The Phillips offers free teacher training on Prism.K12, the Phillips arts-integration methodology, to all DCPS and DCPCS schools.
Art Links to Learning
Art Links to Learning is the Phillips’s in-depth partnership program for DCPS Title-1 schools. Partnering-school teachers and students work with the museum’s educators for three to five years on best-practice arts-integration. Currently, Art Links works with the Washington School for Girls at THEARC and Turner Elementary School (DCPS).
Working with the Community
Community Advisory Committee
Before developing Phillips@THEARC, the museum conducted an eight-month Community Advisory Committee Initiative to determine needs, goals, and programmatic directions in collaboration with our new neighbors. The committee discussed community needs, performed asset-mapping, and provided insights on draft goals, preliminary programming, and the architecture and design of the facility.
Four strategic goals, for the first three years, emerged from the Phillips@THEARC Community Advisory Committee Initiative:
- Demonstrate an authentic connection and commitment to East of the River communities, developing relationships with THEARC partners
- Create an engaging, inviting, and active atmosphere through the architectural and interior design of the Phillips@THEARC spaces
- Pilot programs in collaboration with THEARC partners that tap into existing community resources
- Deepen the Phillips’s ongoing school partnerships East of the River, connect these K-12 partnerships to Phillips@THEARC in intentional and innovative ways, seek out new potential K-12 partners in Wards 7, 8.
We are currently reforming our Community Advisory Committee to address our changing times. Stay tuned for ways that you can get involved.
Why Phillips@THEARC?
Our programming at Phillips@THEARC takes art and wellness beyond the walls of the museum. One of our strategic goals is to engage communities in a meaningful way. We do this by forming partnerships and collaborations to deepen our social commitment, responsibility, and sustainability to our community.
We envision Phillips@THEARC to be a place where access and equity is built into the planning and implementation of our programming, exhibitions, and engagement.