Metropolitan School of the Arts’ Announces Winner of MLK Project

Metropolitan School of the Arts (MSA) announced Aviara Padgett (grade 4) and Jackson Dominski (grade 6), both of Alexandria, Va., as its inaugural winners of its Metropolitan Anti-Bias Committee’s (MABAC) Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Service Project Activity. The project was open to all MSA students to submit and enter a raffle for a $100 gift card. The winning projects included Dominski’s creative music, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbmcMNNOWmY&feature=youtu.be; and Padgett won for her poem, We are All Humans. Go to www.metropolitanarts.org for more information.

The Metropolitan Anti-Bias Committee (MABAC) is a newly formed group of MSA parents, faculty and alumni who are dedicated to developing and implementing strategies to foster a culture of diversity, understanding, equity, anti-bias and inclusion across the MSA community. The committee is made up MSA parents, board members and faculty, to include: Betsy Applebee, MSA board member; Matt Bassett, MSA Academy theatre department chair; Ashley Broadway-Mack, MSA parent; Jon Hamilton, MSA faculty; Roger C. Jeffrey, MSA Academy dance department director and MABAC co-chair; Roxanne King, MSA alumnus and faculty; Shavaughn Priestly-Smith, MSA parent; Arjuna Rivera, MSA parent; Phara Rodrigue, MSA parent and MABAC co-chair; as well as, Rae Vann; MSA parent and MABAC co-chair. For more information on MABAC, go to https://metropolitanarts.org/mabac/.

The MABAC mission is to intentionally foster diversity, understanding, equity, anti-bias, and inclusion in every action and area of MSA in order to provide an environment of excellence in which each student, faculty, staff, family, and community member is able to nurture self and group identities while cultivating empathy and respect for differences; promote critical thinking skills about bias; and foster courage to stand up against discrimination.

MSA also sponsored a professional development opportunity for faculty and staff led by Theresa Ruth Howard, a former member of Dance Theater of Harlem, founder of Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet (MoBBallet), and diversity strategist and consultant to discuss racial equity in ballet.

“Our MLK service projects and our commitment to anti-bias education was truly a call to action to do more, and we’re so proud of the MSA community for uniting to support this effort,” said Sara Hart, co-executive director of Metropolitan School of the Arts in Alexandria, Va.

As a non-profit organization, Metropolitan School of the Arts relies on the generous donations of sponsors and the community to sustain operations for its Academy and studio programming.

The Academy at Metropolitan School of the Arts is a college preparatory performing arts school for emerging young artists, grades 7 to 12, who are dedicated to a rigorous academic experience in a pre-professional performing arts conservatory environment. Their cross-curricular approach to arts training fills each young artist’s toolbox with the dance, music and acting skills necessary to be a triple threat in the arts world. Metropolitan School of the Arts approach to education is designed to develop independent, self-motivated and skilled learners. The school offers a post-high school graduate program as well, for those students who desire an extra year to prepare for admittance into a performing arts university.

ABOUT METROPOLITAN SCHOOL OF THE ARTS (MSA) Alexandria, Va.-based, Metropolitan School of the Arts (MSA), a 501 (c) 3 organization, is the first Washington, D.C. area, private, secondary performing arts school, founded in 2013 by Melissa Dobbs. The MSA performing arts studios in Alexandria, Va. have taught dance, music and theater to more than 10,000 students since 2001. Noted for its world-class instructors, MSA offers high quality performing arts training in a ground breaking, holistic learning environment that cultivates creativity, builds community and empowers students. The organization was featured in Dance Teacher magazine, FOX 5 Morning News, WUSA9 Great Day Washington, ABC-7 Good Morning Washington, Northern Virginia Magazine, Washington Business Journal, Washington Post Weekend and Washington Families magazine. Many students from MSA studios go on to perform in prestigious arenas including Broadway, National Tours, The Julliard School, The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, The Washington Ballet, The American Academy of Ballet, Universal Ballet Academy, The Kirov Ballet, The Hartt School, Marymount University (New York), Ford’s Theater and Mark Morris Dance Company. MSA offers a performing arts academy, a performing arts studio, a youth tap ensemble, a youth ballet, a jazz company, and a theatre program, as well as adult fitness and dance. Call 703.339.0444 or visit www.metropolitanarts.org, Facebook or Twitter.