March is Arts Education Month. Dance, Create, Paint and Play Your Way into a Child's Life

I was a lucky child in that my parents surrounded me with the arts and dragged me often to recitals, performances and outstanding venues to partake in the arts. And even more so attending a great private school ensured that the arts were an everyday piece of my studies.

Improving the quality of education for all students in Washington, DC's public and chartered public schools is imperative for this city and the arts can play a critical role to make it happen. March is Arts Education Month and The DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative understands that the arts – music, dance, visual, theater and literary – and humanities are essential to providing a well-rounded education for all the students in DC public and chartered public schools.

I sit on the Board of Directors for the DC Collaborative, an organization that utilizes the rich arts and cultural opportunities, institutions and professionals located in and around the Nation's Capitol to expand the depth and quality of learning for all students. In 2005 the DC Collaborative launched the Arts Education Initiative, which provides a seamless continuum of arts experiences, arts learning and arts integration in order to educate students both in arts and through arts.

The DC Collaborative has forged relationships with public officials and school leaders who have all expressed support for the arts and for arts education in Washington, DC. We served more than 32,000 DC public school children in 2008 and we are working to dramatically increase that numbers for 2009 and ensure that all public school children have access to the arts.

So I encourage you to visit our website, consider making a donation and support artists across the city to ensure they continue to dance, create, paint and play their way into children's minds.