DC Charity Spotlight: Atlas Performing Arts Center

WISH LIST $170: semester-long dance class for 1 student; $250: free tickets for 10 community residents; $5000: a major gift that brings the capital campaign closer to completion

Located in a historic movie theatre complex on H Street NE, the Atlas Performing Arts Center is a visionary, community-based center with a mission: to foster the artistic growth of professional and aspiring performing artists; to provide a unique community-centered space for arts education; and to spur the revitalization of H Street. What was still a dream in 2003, when the Atlas was first featured in the Catalogue, has since become a reality: renovations began in 2004 and were completed in 2006. Fifty-nine thousand square feet of abandoned space became four theatres, three dance studios, offices, dressing rooms, lobbies, a café, production and rehearsal space. The Atlas is now home to local performing arts groups like African Continuum Theatre, Step Afrika!, Washington Savoyards, and Joy of Motion Dance Center, and to MusicLink, which provides scholarship-based music lessons to children. Children dance, families learn, and the Atlas anchors the redevelopment of H Street, which is now aptly called “The Atlas District.” You can be the angel who helps complete the vision. Patrick Stewart,

Executive Director 1333 H Street, NE Washington, DC 20002 202-399-7993 www.atlasarts.org