Silver Spring, Maryland ($23,000)

After School Dance Fund (ASDF) provides artistic, technical, and financial support for the establishment and maintenance of after-school Latin dance clubs to strengthen the social-emotional development of youth by promoting health, exercise, heritage, and unity through Latin dance education.

Silver Spring, Maryland ($42,500)

The Akhmedova Ballet Academy provides high quality ballet training utilizing the Vaganova Method with personal and artistic mentoring to prepare young, talented dancers to become strong and fully developed artists ready to take their places in major dance companies around the world.

Silver Spring, Maryland ($47,500)

Arts on the Block (AOB) empowers youth to imagine and shape fulfilling futures, join the creative workforce, and contribute to the quality of life in our communities. AOB achieves its mission by providing real-world experiences in the arts and entrepreneurial training geared toward opening new pathways to learning and achievement. A nonprofit social enterprise with a nearly 20-year history, AOB is a hands-on art apprenticeship program offering youth and young adults the opportunity to learn about art, design, and business by engaging them in paid public art commissions.

Rockville, Maryland ($47,500)

Arts for the Aging (AFTA) engages older adults and caregivers with diverse abilities and backgrounds in health improvement and life enhancement through regular participation in multi-disciplinary arts.

Silver Spring, Maryland ($22,500)

Bel Cantanti Opera provides performance opportunities to aspiring young professional singers and prepares them to make the transition from musical conservatory/university to the professional opera stage and brings those performances to the community at an affordable ticket price.

North Bethesda, Maryland ($22,540)

Boulanger Initiative advocates for women and all gender marginalized composers by fostering inclusivity and representation and expanding and enriching the collective understanding of what music is, has been, and can be. Boulanger Initiative promotes music composed by women through performance, education, research, consulting, and commissions.

Takoma Park, Maryland ($23,000)

Cantate stimulates awareness and appreciation of sacred and secular choral music through innovative programming, creative outreach, and collaborative performances with other artists and ensembles.

Silver Spring, Maryland ($24,500)

Carpe Diem Arts inspires creative self-expression that empowers individuals, strengthens communities, and builds better futures, while also supporting the livelihoods of master teaching and performing artists who reflect the diversity of the communities they serve.

Chevy Chase, Maryland ($18,000)

The Chevy Chase Historical Society collects, records, interprets, and shares materials relating to the history of Chevy Chase, Maryland, one of America’s first streetcar suburbs. Founded in 1981, the organization provides resources for historical research and sponsors a variety of programs and activities to foster knowledge and appreciation of the community’s history.

Silver Spring, Maryland ($49,000)

ClancyWorks Dance Company increases public understanding of the arts by presenting high quality dance performance and educational programs; expands the relevance of dance in people’s lives by demonstrating that creative movement can be used to solve conflicts, develop community cohesion, improve academic achievement, and promote civic responsibility; and nurtures leadership skills and artistic excellence in emerging artists.

Silver Spring, Maryland ($49,000)

CREATE Arts Center sparks creativity, fosters learning, empowers individuals, and facilitates community connections through the visual arts.

Takoma Park, Maryland ($50,000)

Fueled by generosity and curiosity, Dance Exchange expands who gets to dance, where dance happens, what dance is about, and why dance matters. Dance Exchange harnesses the power of creativity and inquiry through dance to connect communities, to deepen our understanding of ourselves and to foster a more embodied, resilient, and just world.

Silver Spring, Maryland ($37,720)

Docs In Progress seeks to create community through documentary film. Their mission is to educate, inspire, and transform the way people view their world by providing emerging and established artists of all ages with the tools to tell stories through documentary film. Docs In Progress also seeks to deepen the public’s experience, understanding, and appreciation for documentary as a form of art and expression as well as expose a larger audience to new content.

Bethesda, Maryland ($46,000)

Flying V is a performing arts organization that creates intersectional, niche-based art to provide spaces of belonging for artists and audiences. Flying V shares and interprets modern mythologies that affirm individuals’ unique identities and their relationship to the world. Their work and how it is created is rooted in care for, and accountability to, those same individuals.

Silver Spring, Maryland ($27,600)

Action Youth Media creates communities where young people build the confidence and media skills to express themselves and to promote community building, multicultural understanding, and the common good.

Glen Echo, Maryland ($23,750)

Glen Echo Pottery’s mission is to build and sustain a strong, inclusive ceramic arts community focused on both individual learning and collaborative pursuits of excellence in clay. Anchoring their programs in strong instruction and inspiration, Glen Echo Pottery strives to create opportunities for all participants to share their skills, artistry, and joy with others within and beyond the bounds of their studio.

Potomac, Maryland ($23,000)

Glorystar Children’s Chorus (GCC) provides music education and choral arts to children and youth with a rich repertoire of East Asian and Western music. GCC celebrates their community’s Asian cultural heritage and creates an inclusive and enriching learning environment for singers to build connections within the community.

Takoma Park, Maryland ($13,500)

Inscape Chamber Orchestra performs concerts that engage audiences with new and compelling concert experiences, including premiering and recording new works by American composers.

Wheaton, Maryland ($23,000)

InterAct Story Theatre is a theatre and multidisciplinary arts education organization. They create meaningful, accessible, interactive theatre and arts learning experiences for kids and the people who love them, especially those who experience economic, social, or geographic barriers to equitable arts access. InterAct Story Theatre believes that the arts help foster communication and understanding helping us to express our ideas, hopes, emotions, and experiences when words alone are not enough.

Bethesda, Maryland ($50,000)

Kalanidhi Dance inspires appreciation for Kuchipudi dance through artistic excellence, creative performances, high quality educational programs, and collaborations. The organization is grounded in the belief that dance, like music, knows no geographic boundaries, linguistic barriers, racial differences, or class divisions.

Silver Spring, Maryland ($46,000)

Lumina Studio Theatre provides unique opportunities for young actors of any level of experience who seek to perform Shakespeare, other plays of the classical repertory theatre, and modern plays that focus on the beauty of language. Lumina provides a disciplined and rigorous professional setting where actors are trained in a comprehensive, performance-focused program of theatre arts based on Rudolf Steiner’s Creative Speech and Drama techniques, as well as the techniques of Stella Adler and Michael Chekhov.

Rockville, Maryland ($46,00)

Marlow Guitar International (MGI) creates community through music by drawing people together for entertainment, education, and inspiration. MGI brings people together to experience classical guitar music from around the world through performances, educational events, and outreach.

Silver Spring, Maryland ($24,500)

The National Capital Trolley Museum (NCTM) preserves and interprets the heritage of electric and interurban railways and environs for the benefit of present and future generations, while supplementing its collections with national and international objects to enhance its interpretive programs. The Museum acquires and manages collections of objects related to the history of electric street railways; administers real and personal property; operates an electric railway for interpretive purposes and publishes histories of electric railways.

Rockville, Maryland ($24,010)

Reimagining what have been the limited definitions of “classical music,” the New Orchestra of Washington (NOW) welcomes audiences into a transformative musical experience. NOW creates “great music without labels,” representing the robust cultural diversity of the local community, making orchestral music accessible. NOW is guided by six values—collaboration, representation, education, access, technology, and experimentation (CREATE)—to foster innovative, inclusive programming; nurture enriching partnerships; and infuse the global flavors of all music.

Rockville, Maryland ($49,000)

Peerless Rockville Historic Preservation, Ltd. is an award-winning nonprofit, community-based organization founded in 1974 to preserve buildings, objects, and information important to Rockville’s heritage. Peerless Rockville advances its goals through education, example, advocacy, and community involvement.

Glen Echo, Maryland ($23,000)

Photoworks offers lectures, courses, gallery exhibitions, and community outreach for photographers and students in the Metro region. Photoworks facilitate photographers at all levels to grow to their visual potential. Their goals are to be a preeminent photography community; to preserve traditions and explore the frontiers of visual expression in photography; and to be a financially stable organization with the means to adapt to the changing photography environment.

Glen Echo, Maryland ($23,000)

The Puppet Co. presents professionally produced puppet theater reflecting excellence in both performance and visual experience. As a center for exploration of the Puppet Arts, the Puppet Co. brings professional puppetry performances to its audience and supports puppetry education through classes, workshops, demonstrations, publications, and exhibitions.

Silver Spring, Maryland ($36,390)

Silver Spring Town Center, Inc. (SSTCi) educates, entertains, and inspires residents of all ages by activating public spaces with arts and cultural events that embrace the region’s diversity and build community connections.

Bethesda, Maryland ($46,000)

So What Else seeks to improve the lives of children and families living in underserved communities by providing high-quality programs in literacy, visual and performing arts, as well as athletics, food security, and access to other necessities. The organization inspires young people to give back to the community by creating volunteer opportunities.

Poolesville, Maryland ($50,000)

Story Tapestries uses arts as a powerful tool to create accessible, open spaces and opportunities for individuals to reach their highest potential and to work together for a more inclusive community. Story Tapestries accomplishes this by providing innovative, custom-designed performances, workshops and hands-on community and educational experiences; designing programs that develop skills, connect individuals, elevate diverse voices, and celebrate youth, families, adults, and seniors.

Silver Spring, Maryland ($25,000)

Sutradhar Institute of Dance & Related Arts has a mission to help nurture generational immigrants find a sense of identity, meaningful connection, and an access point for cultural exchange. A gathering space where ideas as well as tea is exchanged, the name Sutradhar means “thread-bearer,” connecting audience, performer, and society through ideas that focus on bridging worlds. Sutradhar has taken on projects that tackle broader American notions of prejudice – often latent and buried in immigrant communities struggling to survive.

Silver Spring, Maryland ($49,000)

The Theatre Consortium of Silver Spring manages the Silver Spring Black Box Theatre for culturally diverse resident companies and other artists and organizations for the enrichment of the community in and around the Silver Spring Arts and Entertainment District. Theatre Consortium of Silver Spring offers performance space for their resident companies, artists, and other arts organizations, presenting high quality, diverse, and reasonably priced performance art across disciplines.

Rockville, Maryland ($25,744)

The Victorian Lyric Opera Company (VLOC) makes operetta relevant for the community.

North Bethesda, Maryland ($50,000)

Young Artists of America (YAA) is reimagining the landscape of arts education by delivering transformative, innovative, and inclusive arts programming that propels students in their personal and artistic development, while bringing exceptional performances to the community.