What is THEARC?





Officially opened in October 2005, The Town Hall Education, Arts & Recreation Campus (THEARC) is a $27 million, 110,000 square-foot world-class education arts & recreation campus located east of the Anacostia River in Washington, DC’s Ward 8. THEARC was built by Building Bridges Across the River (BBAR), a nonprofit organization (founded by William C. Smith & Co.) formed to develop, construct and manage THEARC. Funding for building THEARC ($27 million) came entirely from charitable contributions by the Federal and District government, corporations, foundations and individuals. THEARC is a key part of a revitalization of the area known as East of the (Anacostia) River in Washington, DC.

THEARC is a home away from home for the many underserved children and adults of East of the River, enabling them to participate in dance classes, music instruction, fine arts, academics, continuing education, mentoring, tutoring, recreation, and medical and dental care and other services at substantially reduced cost or no cost at all.

In addition to a 365-seat community theater-the only theater of any kind east of the Anacostia River -THEARC includes a regulation size gymnasium, a computer lab, an art gallery, state-of-the-art music and dance studios and other first-rate facilities.

Since its official opening in October 2005, THEARC has already served thousands of residents of the surrounding Southeast DC Community. More than 2,000 children and their parents are enrolled in the programs at THEARC (over 7,000 if you include the 5,000 patients served by Children's National Medical Center). The state-of-the-art theater at THEARC is steadily booked for events such as community movie days & sing-alongs, art shows, graduations, professional theater productions, concerts, master classes, fashion shows and meetings of community organizations including local public school administrators.

THEARC brings together an array of comprehensive programs and services from ten partner agencies and two non-resident partner agencies, all of whom embrace the lives of children and adults living east of the Anacostia River in Washington, DC.THEARC PARTNERS


NON-RESIDENT PARTNERS of THEARC
Legal Aid Society of DC
Training Grounds, Inc.


For more Congress Heights and River East news visit The Congress Heights Examiner website, http://www.examiner.com/x-13507-Congress-Heights-Community-Examiner

Share on Facebook