The mission of the BlackRock Center for the Arts is to inspire the community to become involved in the arts. To this end, it has several theaters - with a performance arts season featuring music, dance, and theater; an exhibition gallery; and an education program featuring classes and summer camps for children (ages three and up) and adults. Classes are also available for children with developmental disabilities.

Classes include piano, creative movement, ballet/tap, hip hop, musical theater, guitar, music studies, art (painting, printmaking, paper collages, and more), and songwriting. Summer camps are half day, art exploration sessions for ages three to six, and full day for children entering grades two through eight. The older kids focus on the arts, creating a performance piece by the end of the camp.

Expressive Therapeutic Movement provides therapeutic movement therapy for individuals with special needs. Individual, semi-private, and weekend group workshops are offered to integrate physical, emotional, cognitive, and social levels. Through movement and dance, individuals with mild to moderate disabilities including ADHD, Autism, Down Syndrome, and Smith Magenis Syndrome discover movement can be an "organizing" power and begin to discover a creative outlet for self-expression.

Expressive Therapeutic Movement provides therapeutic movement therapy for individuals with special needs. Individual, semi-private, and weekend group workshops are offered to integrate physical, emotional, cognitive, and social levels. Through movement and dance, individuals with mild to moderate disabilities including ADHD, Autism, Down Syndrome, and Smith Magenis Syndrome discover movement can be an "organizing" power and begin to discover a creative outlet for self-expression.

The winner of our 2008 Parents' Picks quest to find the Best Parents' Night Out and Best Day Camp for Little Kids in DC, Funfit classes let parents experience with their children how much fun fitness can be.

Available at the center and throughout the DC Metro area in rec centers and schools, Funfit Tots classes (for kids six months through five years) combine creative movement and active play with music, stories, and a variety of play equipment, giving children and parents a complete heart-healthy, fun, physical workout together. In addition to the original Funfit classes, the Fitness Center offers classes in yoga, ballet, art, music and motion, sports and games, kung fu, adult Tai Chi, special needs, and "The Circuit," a complete strength and cardio workout for children ages five through 13. Active Spring & Summer camps are available half-day for three- to six-year-olds as well as a cheerleading full-day camp for four- to eight-year-olds.

Open Gym, for infants through age 13, is held a couple of days a week, where children can bounce in the moonbounce; work out in the Circuit; read some books; play with puzzles, cars, and blocks; ride the kiddie-coaster; be creative in the art room; and more. Funfit also holds Parents Nights Out and many other special events.

A wide variety of themed birthday parties are available for kids ages one through 12 - in your home or at the Funfit Family Fitness Center.

Founded in 1979, Imagination Stage is the region's leading theater arts organization dedicated to children, serving 100,000 children and their families per year through professional theater productions, diverse classes, and camps. Plays and musicals are staged year-round in the 400-seat Lerner Family Theatre, and the StoryTheatre Series for pre-schoolers is presented in the smaller Reeve Studio Theatre.

Classes in acting, creative drama, dance, musical theater, and filmmaking are offered for children for ages one through 18 of all abilities. Just Imagine Classes (ages 12 months to 36 months) are multi-sensory classes for child and parent/caregiver. Classes are offered during a fall semester and winter/spring semester. Special workshops are always on the schedule. For teens, training becomes more focused with audition-only, pre-professional conservatory and ensemble programs in acting, musical theater, dance, or filmmaking.

Summer camps and flex weeks offer fun in one to five week programs (half or full day). Longer, full-day camps culminate in a production of a musical or play that campers perform for family and friends. Programs include musical theater, acting, dance, filmmaking, and filmmaking.

Imagination Stage is dedicated to inclusion and offers programs for those with special needs and those in the deaf community.

Imagination Stage also has a Café and Gift Shop. The Just Imagine Cafe serves pre- and post-show snacks and meals, so it's easy to grab lunch or a snack before one of the shows! The Just Imagine Gift Shop has an imaginative range of gifts, large and small, including dress up, toys, books, and more.

Little Steps Music provides group and individual therapeutic treatment for developmentally delayed children and Music Together classes (for newborn through age six), an informal music education program for children and their families. In addition to these classes, private musical entertainment that follows the Music Together curriculum is available for parties.