Greater Richmond Wolf Trap is Expanding
Photo courtesy of RPAA
Richmond Performing Arts Alliance (RPAA) is an affiliate of the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning through the Arts offering Greater Richmond Wolf Trap programs both in schools and in the community. This program has expanded in multiple ways over the course of the last few months to include residencies in Petersburg Public Schools as well as the introduction of Baby Artsplay!™ which provides programming for children 3-36 months and their caregivers in community settings. These programs are in addition to its current presence in Richmond and Henrico County Public Schools facilitated by 19 different teaching artists trained and employed by RPAA.
Greater Richmond Wolf Trap provides early childhood teachers, caregivers, and parents with innovative arts-based strategies to teach fundamental academic and social emotional concepts to young children. Greater Richmond Wolf Trap professional development workshops for teachers, classroom residencies, and field trip performances for early childhood classes engage children in active learning through music, drama, puppetry, and dance to enhance their skills in emergent literacy, problem-solving, group awareness, and even STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Independent research shows that Wolf Trap Institute’s approach leads to improved student preparedness and teacher professional growth in areas including higher standardized test scores, increased language development, enhanced 21st-century skills, 34 days of extra learning in math, and improved teacher practice.
Baby Artsplay!™ provides children and their parents or caregivers a holistic early childhood music, drama, and movement program aimed at supporting children’s intellectual, social, emotional, and physical development. Free weekly community classes focus on increasing children’s sensory awareness, spatial relations, motor development, language skills, and social development. Parents or caregivers are encouraged to reinforce the experiences at home, and learn how to facilitate developmentally appropriate performing arts experiences for and with their children, thus primarily impacting parenting support and engagement in respect to facets of Early Childhood Education.
Baby Artsplay!™ classes are currently offered at Children’s Museum of Richmond, Pine Camp Cultural Arts Center, and Westover Hills Branch Library. Each location offers a fall, winter, and spring session with 5 classes per session. After an overwhelming response to the fall courses, RPAA will be including additional sessions out of the Genworth BrightLights Education Center, located in Dominion Energy Center beginning February 8th.
Photo courtesy of RPAA
