Social Impact at The Kennedy Center
“Our systemic commitment to social impact lives in our belief that the arts hold unique power in our society to build community, center joy, inspire action, and drive meaningful change. We leverage the arts for non-arts outcomes to advance justice and equity in all that we do.”
Local Theater Residency & Festival
The Local Theater Residency supported REACH residencies for 12 D.M.V. playwrights or small-to-medium theater companies to develop new work. The end of each season culminated with the Local Theater Festival - a day-long free festival featuring twelve staged readings, workshops for all ages ranging from immersive storytelling for children to Commedia dell’Arte mask work, a panel featuring D.C. leaders discussing the current theater landscape, and a resource fair for technical theater practices and other local resources such as the D.C. Commission for the Arts.
Featured collaborators include Prologue Theater, Mosaic Theater Company, Spooky Action Theater, Synetic Theater, Theater Alliance, Ifa Bayeza, Nikki Mirza, Paige Hernandez, and Regan Linton. The 2nd Annual Theater Festival also included a panel discussion between Peter Marks and Naveen Kumar (formerly of the Washington Post) moderated by Victoria M. Baatin.
Social Practice Residencies
The Social Practice Residency was a three-year thoughtful partnership between a cohort of artists, The Kennedy Center, and their communities of practice. Each residency held a different aim regarding community engagement, but included at least one open-to-the-public event a season. These events included film screenings and talkbacks, multimedia art installations, workshops aimed towards AI education, and more.
Social Practice Residency Cohort 2024
Heather Raffo
Phillipa Pham Hughes
Social Practice Residency Cohort 2023
Angelina Spicer
Samora Pinderhughes
Tahir Hemphill
Social Practice Residency Cohort 2022
Dr. Cristal Chanelle Truscott
Dr. Elizabeth Rule
Kristina Wong
Social Practice Residency Cohort 2021
Helen Zughaib
Nolan Williams Jr.
Office Hours Residency
The Office Hours Residency invited artists from across the United States and U.S. territories to create and/or develop an emerging piece at The Kennedy Center Reach. This residency had no output requirement, allowing artists to create solely for the sake of creation.
Featured collaborators include Chris Grace, Haus of Bambi, Kinetic Light, Maija Garcia, Omi Bell (Black Girl Ventures), Saymoukda Vongsay, and Ty Defoe.
The Office Hours Residency also collaborated with Conflux and Dance Programming through hosting The National Black Theater, Reframing the Narrative, and the Local Dance Commissioning Project.
Dance Sanctuaries
Dance Sanctuaries offered a curated series of free dance classes for all levels bimonthly at The Kennedy Center REACH. Each season consisted of four season curators, who hosted 4 days across a season, and other collaborators curating days to celebrate global events, such as breakdancing entering the Olympics, or holidays, such as Lunar New Year.
Season collaborators include Ferocity Dance Company, Greater Washington Chinese Dance, Kankouran West African Dance Company, and Lauren DeVera/The Lion’s Den.
Photography Credits to Jati Lindsay