Dear Friends of YPT,
In the darkest moments of our history, the arts have sustained and fortified us. Throughout the global pandemic, the arts–music, TV shows, books, and games–brought us moments of joy and comfort, helped us grieve and process trauma, and connected us with one another.
At YPT, we know that arts education can unlock the emotional and social skills that young people need to navigate uncertainty and change, build resilience, and imagine themselves into the future.
“YPT’s programming is the only real creative outlet my students have right now.”
– YPT Partner Teacher
Through our storytelling programs and theatrical productions, we are equipping students with tools that will help them to not only survive this critical moment of reemergence and re-imagining, but to thrive.
“Young Playwrights’ Theater has been not only a fond memory for me, but instrumental in my love of theater, my development as a writer, and in shaping my views on what I believe I’m capable of as an artist.”
– Fayshawn, YPT Alumna
Will you support our YPT Renaissance?
There is so much we are looking forward to this year.
We will continue in-person delivery of our core programs–the In-School Playwriting Program and our After-School and Summer Playwriting Programs–for 500 elementary, middle, high school, and college-aged students across the DC region.
Our Students Advocating for the Eradication of Racism (SAFER) participants at Sitar Arts Center will spend a full year learning the tools of arts activism and creating change in their communities.
We are further exploring the potential of digital storytelling through our first-ever Silence is Violence podcast and virtual workshops with our Young Playwrights’ in Progress.
Through the Young Playwrights’ Workshop, we are training educators in arts integration techniques that they will employ throughout their professional teaching careers, expanding our impact well into the future.
And our consulting initiative, AROW (Abolishing Racism and Oppression in the Workplace), will continue to train peer organizations in dismantling white supremacy and creating new institutional models that prioritize and uplift marginalized people.
Can we count on your donation to support our YPT Renaissance?
Thank you for believing in the power of the arts and the brilliance of our region’s young people.
In gratitude,
Brigitte Winter
Executive Director