Get to Know Wolf Trap Education!

May 18, 2024

Whether you’re a seasoned patron or a first-time visitor, you might not be aware that Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts offers a variety of vibrant educational outreach programs. Through these initiatives, Wolf Trap collaborates with educators, young children, and families to bring joyful, active learning to life through the arts. Get to know us better!

How did Wolf Trap Education get started?

From its founding, Wolf Trap founder Catherine Filene Shouse sought to instill within children a love of the arts. In 1981, Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts was established through a grant from Head Start. Since then, the Institute has partnered with teachers in early childhood classrooms from infant/toddler to first grade to provide customized professional development in arts integration. Today, Wolf Trap’s education programs reach nearly 100,000 educators, children, and families each year, through its national office and 26 affiliates across the United States and Singapore.

What is arts integration?

Singing, dancing, role-playing, and storytelling through drama and puppetry help children develop foundational skills in math, science, literacy, and social-emotional learning. With the support of Wolf Trap Teaching Artists, educators learn how to incorporate the arts into their daily practice, strengthening their connection with children and providing deeper, more meaningful learning experiences.

What is a teaching artist?

Teaching artists are professional artists who work with educators, children, and families to provide arts experiences that engage, educate, and entertain. Wolf Trap recruits artists from all disciplines and cultural backgrounds and offers them training in early childhood education best practices. Wolf Trap Teaching Artists participate in multi-day classroom residencies, lead professional development workshops for educators, and guide families through programs like Baby ArtsPlay™, ArtsPlay™, and family workshops that enable parents and caregivers to participate in arts experiences alongside their children. 

What else does Wolf Trap Education do?

Each summer, Children’s Theatre-in-the Woods entertains children and families with a series of culturally rich performances and artist workshops at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts. Grants for Performing Arts Teachers encourage public middle and high school teachers in the greater Washington, DC metro area to bring innovative new performing arts experiences to their students. Grantees and their students have the opportunity to visit Wolf Trap, tour the Filene Center, and participate in artist workshops. Wolf Trap’s Internship & Apprenticeship Program helps college students and recent graduates build fundamental administrative and interpersonal skills while receiving specialized training in specific disciplines through paid internships and apprenticeships, offered year-round. 

Wolf Trap’s educational programs impact young children, educators, and students through college with programs both in and outside of the classroom. To find out more about Wolf Trap’s education programs, visit wolftrap.org/education.

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Now that you know the basics, have fun with some trivia!

Hint: All of the answers can be found in this article!

1. Wolf Trap Institute was started in 1981 with a grant from _______.
2. Where can you see family-friendly performances surrounded by nature?
3. Wolf Trap Institute supports arts integration in dance/movement, drama/storytelling, music, and _____________.
4. Wolf Trap _______  Artists help educators learn how to incorporate the arts into their daily practice.
5. In what city is Wolf Trap’s international affiliate located?
   

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ANSWERS

1. Head Start
2.  Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods
3. puppetry
4. Teaching
5. Singapore