ABOUT US
Cultivating Critical Thinkers and Creative Leaders
The Fairfax Arts Coalition for Education stands as a dedicated non-profit organization focused entirely on elevating the educational experience across Fairfax County by seamlessly integrating the arts into core academic curricula. We exist to close the gap between conventional instruction and the dynamic needs of a 21st-century workforce that demands innovation, emotional intelligence, and collaborative capacity. Our approach is holistic, moving beyond simple after-school electives to fundamentally reshape how students process information, solve complex problems, and communicate ideas. By organizing high-impact, sustained workshops, collaborative residencies, and public-facing community arts events, we ensure that the benefits of artistic expression—such as enhanced observational skills, improved focus, and non-verbal communication proficiency—are made accessible to every student and educator, regardless of their background or previous artistic experience. We are governed by a passionate board of directors, comprised of educators, professional artists, business leaders, and parents, all united by the singular vision of making arts education a pervasive and sustainable force for good in our region.
Our Story
A Legacy of Creativity and Commitment
The Fairfax Arts Coalition for Education (FACE) was originally conceived in 2012 by a dedicated collective of Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) educators, professional musicians, and civic-minded parents who recognized a critical, unmet need: the profound benefits of rigorous arts education were not being equitably distributed across the county, and the essential connection between the arts and cognitive development was often undervalued. They observed that while many schools offered traditional electives, there was a lack of sustained, cross-curricular programming that genuinely used artistic methodologies to enhance core subject mastery, particularly in underserved communities. This founding group was driven by the conviction that creativity is an inherent human right and a powerful socioeconomic equalizer, forming the organization with the initial goal of piloting three interdisciplinary programs designed to prove the measurable impact of arts integration on student engagement and academic performance. The initial seed funding, raised through grassroots efforts and a small local grant, allowed the Coalition to establish its first artist-in-residence program, focusing on using dramatic storytelling techniques to improve literacy scores in middle school students, thereby laying the philosophical and practical groundwork for all future endeavors.
What We Do
Empowering the Next Generation of Innovators
At FACE, our program structure is meticulously designed to offer comprehensive, multi-disciplinary arts integration that is tailored to specific developmental and academic goals across all grade levels, ensuring a sustained and meaningful engagement with the arts throughout a student’s educational journey. We operate three core types of programs: in-school artist residencies, which embed a professional artist directly into a classroom for 6-12 weeks to co-teach academic subjects; professional development workshops for educators, which equip teachers with practical arts-integration strategies for their own curricula; and community collaboration projects, such as public art installations and open-access workshops that bring students, families, and artists together in shared creative experiences. Whether a student is learning about civil rights through dramatic improvisation and historical role-playing, or exploring the principles of physics by designing and building kinetic sculptures, our programming ensures that the arts serve as the most engaging medium for deep intellectual understanding and the development of essential executive functions, including planning, execution, and reflective critique.
Our Mission
Fostering Creativity and Collaboration in Education Through the Arts.
The Fairfax Arts Coalition for Education is driven by the profound conviction that creativity and collaboration are not secondary attributes but are the fundamental drivers of human progress and educational success, and our mission is to actively foster these attributes within the learning environments of Fairfax County through the intentional use of the arts. We dedicate ourselves to cultivating a vibrant, resilient community that purposefully connects the diverse talents of professional artists, the pedagogical expertise of dedicated educators, and the boundless potential of students through a dynamic array of collaborative events and intensive, skills-based workshops. Our extensive and diverse programs are meticulously crafted not just to teach artistic techniques but to fundamentally nurture critical thinking, enhance communication skills, and equip all participants with the essential, transferable skills required to navigate and shape the complexities of the 21st century. Furthermore, we commit to being a reliable resource, providing meaningful opportunities for local artists to professionally showcase their vital work and, in doing so, to directly inspire and mentor the next generation of creative thinkers and innovative leaders across the region.
Our Vision
Our long-term vision for the Fairfax Arts Coalition for Education is to establish a future where the arts are universally recognized and treated as the central, indispensable component of every student’s educational experience throughout Fairfax County, integrated seamlessly across all academic disciplines. We envision a school system where a student’s ability to think like an artist—to observe acutely, to hypothesize creatively, and to iterate bravely—is valued just as highly as their proficiency in mathematics or science, leading to genuine equity in educational opportunity and outcome. Achieving this vision requires not only expanding our current programming to reach every district school but also fundamentally reshaping policy and funding priorities at the institutional level, positioning FACE as the leading voice and resource for arts advocacy and curricular development. We aim to cultivate a community where every resident understands that investment in arts education is a direct and powerful investment in innovation, economic vitality, and the social and emotional well-being of the region.
Our Values
Our entire operation and strategic direction are built upon a set of four non-negotiable core values: Integrity, Inclusivity, Imagination, and tangible Impact, which collectively guide every decision we make, from curriculum design to community engagement strategy. We operate with absolute Integrity, ensuring transparency in our finances, authenticity in our mission, and ethical rigor in our partnerships, maintaining the trust placed in us by families, donors, and the public school system. Inclusivity mandates that we actively dismantle barriers to access, ensuring that our programs are physically, economically, and culturally welcoming to students from all socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds, viewing diverse perspectives as essential fuel for creative brilliance. Imagination is the driving creative energy behind our educational model, challenging us to constantly innovate our teaching methodologies and encourage fearless, original thought in our students and artists. Finally, we demand measurable Impact, committing to rigorous program evaluation and data collection to prove the positive effects of our work on student achievement, emotional development, and community engagement.
Our Impact
The quantifiable and qualitative impact of FACE extends far beyond the classroom walls, fundamentally contributing to the creative capital, social cohesion, and future resilience of the entire Fairfax County community. Our programs have been statistically proven to enhance several key metrics, including improving student attendance rates and decreasing behavioral incidents in participating schools, demonstrating the vital role of engaging arts programs in fostering a positive school climate. More profoundly, we contribute to community resilience by using collaborative arts projects, such as shared public murals or neighborhood-based theatre productions, as powerful tools for dialogue, empathy-building, and collective problem-solving, allowing diverse groups to express their shared identity and address local challenges creatively. By consistently training and showcasing local artists, we also inject significant cultural energy and economic activity back into the local economy, solidifying Fairfax as a dynamic, artistically vibrant place to live and work, proving that our impact is truly systemic and long-lasting.
Our Team
Led by Visionaries, Mentored by Artists, Driven by Educators
Dr. Evelyn Chen, Executive Director
Dr. Evelyn Chen holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy from the University of Virginia and brings over two decades of dedicated experience from various levels of education, including serving as a former FCPS Assistant Principal and a tenured professor specializing in arts pedagogy. Her deep understanding of both academic administration and the practical realities of K-12 schooling makes her uniquely qualified to lead the Coalition’s strategic vision and manage its complex relationship with the public school system. Evelyn’s commitment to equity is the driving force behind her work, ensuring that FACE’s programming targets the communities where the access gap is widest. She believes passionately that art is a powerful equalizer, offering every student, regardless of their background, a non-verbal path to demonstrate competence and build self-worth. Under her leadership, FACE has tripled its artist residency placements and secured major multi-year grants, solidifying its position as a sustainable leader in arts-integrated education in the region. Her leadership style is characterized by empathetic listening, strategic foresight, and an unwavering focus on measurable outcomes.
Marcus O’Connell, Director of Artist Residency Programs
Marcus O’Connell is a classically trained musician and a professional teaching artist with a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Juilliard School, whose career spans performance, composition, and dedicated educational outreach. Having spent 15 years as a touring professional, he brings a vital, real-world perspective to the programming, ensuring that all instruction is not only rigorous but also relevant to the contemporary arts landscape. Marcus is directly responsible for recruiting, training, and mentoring FACE’s roster of teaching artists, developing the comprehensive curriculum that translates their professional practices into effective classroom methodologies. His specialty lies in interdisciplinary projects, notably designing a program that uses jazz improvisation techniques to teach statistical probability in high school math classes, demonstrating his innovative approach to arts integration. Marcus is known for his inspiring energy, his ability to connect deeply with artists and students alike, and his firm belief that the structure and discipline required to master an art form directly translate into academic and life success.
Aisha Khan, Community & Family Engagement Coordinator
Aisha Khan holds a Master’s degree in Social Work and Community Organizing and has dedicated her career to fostering authentic, bidirectional relationships between non-profits, local families, and community stakeholders. Her role is critical to the FACE mission, focusing on ensuring that the organization’s programs are not only accessible but also culturally responsive to the diverse linguistic and demographic populations within Fairfax County. Aisha manages all public-facing events, including organizing the annual “Fairfax Artful Futures” festival, which showcases student work and serves as a major community fundraiser and awareness campaign. She leads initiatives for parent workshops, helping families understand how to support their child’s creative development at home, effectively bridging the school-home divide. Her approach is built on trust, respect, and deep understanding of grassroots mobilization, ensuring that FACE remains genuinely connected to the families it serves. Aisha is a tireless advocate whose efforts guarantee that our programming truly reflects the needs and aspirations of the entire community.
Samuel “Sam” Hayes, Lead Program Evaluator and Curriculum Developer
Sam Hayes is a former FCPS K-5 Art Specialist and holds a Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction, bringing over a decade of practical experience in designing and assessing arts curricula within a large public school setting. Sam is responsible for the crucial task of measuring the efficacy of all FACE programs, developing the quantitative and qualitative tools used to track student engagement, artistic skill acquisition, and academic cross-over results. He works closely with school administration and faculty to align FACE residencies with state and local academic standards, ensuring that our arts-based instruction genuinely supports, rather than distracts from, core subject learning objectives. His meticulous and data-driven approach is essential for demonstrating the program’s tangible value to policymakers, administrators, and grant funders. Sam’s dual background in art instruction and educational accountability provides a grounded perspective, ensuring that while the programs are creatively boundless, they remain pedagogically sound and fully accountable for the significant educational outcomes they promise.
Our Work
Where Imagination and Education Intersect
Our work in Education and Learning is the cornerstone of the Fairfax Arts Coalition for Education, focusing on the intentional, high-fidelity integration of artistic processes directly into academic subjects, moving beyond simple craft projects to deeply embed artistic thinking into the cognitive framework of every student. This involves deploying our trained teaching artists into classrooms to collaborate with core subject teachers (such as history, math, or science teachers), co-designing lessons where the creation of an art product—be it a theatrical scene, a graphic novel, or a musical composition—becomes the vehicle for demonstrating mastery of the academic standard. For example, a middle school history unit on the American Revolution might require students to create a series of narrative paintings or dioramas that visually depict the key ideological struggles and emotional turmoil of the era, forcing them to synthesize complex historical facts and express them through composition, color symbolism, and narrative structure. This active synthesis and expressive translation lead to deeper retention of academic content, enhanced critical analysis skills, and a much more personal and engaged learning experience, providing a vital pathway for students who may not thrive in traditional, purely lecture-based settings.
Play & Exploration
Nurturing Curiosity and Resilience Through Creative Freedom
The element of Play and Exploration is purposefully woven into all our programming, recognizing that unstructured, imaginative engagement is the essential fuel for true innovation, resilience, and emotional intelligence in young people. We create carefully curated environments—whether in our workshops or through school residencies—that are psychologically safe, providing students with the freedom to experiment, take creative risks without fear of failure, and explore materials and concepts guided by their own innate curiosity. In our dedicated studio programs, students are given open-ended prompts, such as “What does gravity sound like?” or “Design a machine that expresses pure joy,” which necessitates a playful, iterative process of trial and error, a methodology that mirrors real-world scientific research and artistic development. This focus on process over product fosters a healthy attitude toward mistakes, which are reframed as essential data points in the creative journey, ultimately building critical emotional resilience and the ability to pivot and adapt, skills that are infinitely valuable regardless of a student’s chosen career path. This joyful exploration is the incubator where the seeds of future creativity and innovation are allowed to truly take root and flourish.
Social & Emotional Development
Using Collaborative Arts to Build Empathy and Communication
Our work is deeply committed to supporting Social and Emotional Development (SEL) through collaborative art-making, leveraging the unique power of the arts—especially theatre, dance, and collaborative visual projects—to build empathy, improve communication, and strengthen social bonds among students. Group activities, such as creating a collective mural that requires compromise on color schemes and design elements, or participating in a dramatic improvisation exercise that demands active listening and non-verbal communication, naturally require students to practice core SEL competencies in an immediate, tangible context. Students must learn to express their ideas assertively yet respectfully, interpret the intentions and feelings of their collaborators, and work through creative disagreements toward a shared, successful outcome, all while navigating the emotional dynamics of a high-stakes group project. These experiences are structured to build self-awareness, responsible decision-making, and relational skills that are essential for navigating school and life successfully. By providing a safe space for expressive outlet and structured peer interaction, FACE programs are a vital therapeutic and developmental resource, particularly for students grappling with challenges in conventional social settings.
Programs/Services
Tailored Creative Pathways for Every Age and Interest
The Fairfax Arts Coalition for Education offers a meticulously structured sequence of programs that cater to the full range of developmental stages, ensuring that students from the earliest years through young adulthood have access to appropriate, challenging, and inspiring arts-integrated learning experiences. Our programming begins with the Early Explorer Series for children ages 3-5, which uses tactile, sensory-based visual and musical activities to develop fine motor skills and pre-literacy concepts through playful, guided exploration. The Elementary Arts Integration Residencies (K-5) focus on using the arts as a tool to master core academic subjects, incorporating activities like mask-making to study ancient civilizations or choreographed movement to understand mathematical patterns. For Middle School (6-8), we emphasize interdisciplinary investigation and career pathway exposure, utilizing digital media, filmmaking, and theatre to tackle complex ethical and social issues. Finally, the High School Creative Leadership Track (9-12) provides advanced portfolio development, mentorship opportunities with professional artists, and specialized workshops focused on the business of art, preparing students for arts-related college programs or creative careers, ensuring a seamless, growth-oriented pathway for all ages.
Community & Engagement
Building Bridges of Creativity Across Fairfax County
We fundamentally view family involvement not as an optional addition but as an absolutely vital component of a student’s success and the core mission of the Fairfax Arts Coalition for Education, recognizing that artistic learning is most potent when it is nurtured and celebrated within the home environment. We actively empower parents and guardians to become engaged partners in their child’s creative and academic journey by hosting a series of accessible, hands-on family workshops focused on simple, powerful arts integration techniques that can be applied daily, such as using sketching to improve observation or incorporating creative storytelling into family routines. Beyond workshops, we ensure consistent and transparent communication regarding program goals and student achievements, and we actively recruit parents to volunteer in capacities that align with their skills and time constraints, from organizing logistics for showcases to serving on advisory committees that help shape the future direction of our programs. By fostering this robust collaboration between students, educators, and families, we build a cohesive support system that reinforces the value of creativity as a shared, life-long family value, ensuring that the benefits of our work extend far beyond the school day.
testimonials
Hearing How Art Has Transformed Their Children’s Learning
“Before joining the FACE drama program, my son, Liam (Age 10, Elementary), was intensely shy and often struggled to speak up in class, even when he knew the answer; he lacked the necessary confidence to express his ideas publicly. Within just one semester of the theatre residency, where he learned improvisation and character development, his teacher reported a monumental shift: he started volunteering to read aloud, initiating group projects, and even took the lead role in the school play’s showcase. The program didn’t just teach him how to act; it gave him the essential tool of embodied communication and the self-assurance to know that his voice, whether spoken or performed, holds genuine value. He’s now a completely different student—engaged, expressive, and ready to tackle challenges that he previously would have avoided entirely—and this transformation is absolutely attributable to the supportive, risk-taking environment that FACE provided in his school.” — Sarah M., Parent, Elementary Group
“The High School Creative Leadership Track was truly transformative for my daughter, Chloe (Age 16, High School). She was always artistically gifted, but the FACE program connected her passion for drawing with a professional understanding of graphic design and portfolio creation, treating her creativity as a serious career path rather than just a hobby. The mentorship she received from a local professional illustrator, who guided her through a collaborative community project, was invaluable. She learned about client briefs, managing deadlines, and pitching her ideas, skills that are immediately applicable to any professional environment. The program provided her with the technical skills, the business acumen, and, most importantly, the necessary confidence to apply to some of the nation’s top art schools, proving that FACE is serious about turning creative talent into tangible career capital.” — David L., Parent, High School Group
“Our family has been involved with the Fairfax Arts Coalition for Education since its inception, and the difference their presence makes in our school environment is palpable, especially for our youngest, Noah (Age 6, Early Childhood). The early childhood visual art program, integrated directly into his kindergarten class, completely changed how he approaches complex problem-solving. When faced with a challenging math worksheet, he doesn’t panic; he instinctively starts sketching out possible solutions and diagrams the problem first, using the visual organization skills he learned in the art studio. This cross-curricular thinking is a direct result of the FACE methodology, which teaches children that creation and problem-solving are fundamentally intertwined processes. The warmth and professionalism of the teaching artists are exceptional, and they create a joyful atmosphere where every child feels seen and encouraged to express their unique perspective without judgment.” — Jessica K., Parent, Early Childhood Group
“As a former teacher myself, I appreciate the academic rigor and the deep pedagogical thought that goes into the FACE programs. My son, Ethan (Age 12, Middle School), participated in the science and sculpture residency, where he had to build a working kinetic sculpture to demonstrate Newton’s laws of motion. This was a far more effective learning tool than any lecture or textbook could offer, forcing him to apply physics concepts in a physical, functional way that demanded precision and artistic execution. The complexity of the project, and the need to troubleshoot structural failures repeatedly, taught him resilience and iterative design thinking better than any standard class. The FACE program successfully merges hard science with creative engineering, offering an unparalleled learning experience that truly prepares students for a future where interdisciplinary skills are absolutely essential.” — Robert H., Parent, Middle School Group
Our Volunteer
Join Our Coalition: Transform Lives Through Dedicated Service
Why Volunteer
Becoming an Essential Part of the Creative Ecosystem
Choosing to volunteer with the Fairfax Arts Coalition for Education is a decision to become a profoundly essential part of a vibrant, high-impact creative ecosystem, dedicating your time to tangible, meaningful work that directly fosters the artistic and academic success of thousands of Fairfax County students. Our volunteers are the indispensable force that enables us to scale our efforts, bridge logistical gaps, and maintain the high quality of our diverse programming, contributing far beyond mere administrative assistance. Whether you are a retired teacher looking to mentor, a professional with a passion for event planning, or a student seeking to give back, your unique skills will be matched to roles that allow you to make a visible, celebrated difference, engaging directly with our mission of arts integration. Volunteering with FACE is a fulfilling opportunity to connect with a diverse community of passionate artists, dedicated educators, and inspiring students, providing you with a front-row seat to the powerful, transformative moments when a child discovers a new talent or unlocks a complex academic concept through the lens of creative expression.
Ways to Help
Matching Your Passion to Our Purpose
The Fairfax Arts Coalition for Education offers a wide and flexible range of volunteer opportunities designed to match your individual skills, availability, and interests to the critical needs of our organization, ensuring that your commitment is both rewarding for you and highly effective for our mission. For those with a passion for direct student interaction, we offer roles as Classroom Support Aides during artist residencies, helping to distribute materials, manage group logistics, and encourage student engagement during hands-on activities, always under the direct supervision of a professional educator or artist. We also rely heavily on Event Support Volunteers to assist with the logistical planning, setup, and execution of our major community showcases, galas, and public workshops, providing vital support for our most visible advocacy efforts. For individuals with professional expertise in areas like marketing, graphic design, grant writing, or database management, our Skill-Based Volunteers offer invaluable professional services that help us to operate efficiently, expand our reach, and maintain a high level of organizational integrity, allowing your unique, professional skills to directly fuel our educational mission.
The Impact of Volunteering
A Direct Investment in Community Vitality
The impact of your time and effort as a volunteer for the Fairfax Arts Coalition for Education is a direct and powerful investment in the long-term educational equity and cultural vitality of the entire Fairfax County community. By helping to run a workshop, you are directly enabling a child to have a moment of profound creative discovery that might not otherwise have been possible due to resource constraints within their school. Your support allows our paid professional artists and educators to focus entirely on curriculum delivery and student engagement, ensuring that their expertise is leveraged to its maximum potential, directly resulting in enhanced academic outcomes and greater artistic literacy among students. Beyond individual students, your volunteerism contributes to the overall strength of the local arts ecosystem by supporting the employment and visibility of local teaching artists, strengthening the creative economy of our region. Every hour you dedicate to FACE is a visible statement of commitment to the belief that arts education is essential, fostering a more creative, resilient, and engaged generation of future leaders in our community.
Fretquently asked questions
Answers to Your Most Important Questions
How do I enroll my child in a FACE program or residency?
The enrollment process for the Fairfax Arts Coalition for Education (FACE) is structured into two main pathways: In-School Residencies and Community Workshops/Camps. For our in-school residencies, which are integrated directly into academic classrooms, enrollment is managed by the partner school administration; generally, the entire class participates, and there is no separate registration fee for parents, as these programs are funded by FACE grants or specific school budgets. For our public-facing programs, such as summer camps, specialized weekend workshops, or the High School Creative Leadership Track, enrollment is handled directly through our website’s registration portal, which opens seasonally (typically in February for Summer, August for Fall, and November for Winter/Spring). We strongly advise families to register promptly once the window opens, as these specialized programs often have strict capacity limits to maintain a high-quality, low student-to-artist ratio. You must complete a comprehensive online form to ensure we have all necessary emergency contact, medical, and demographic information, and a confirmation email is always sent upon successful registration and payment, placing your child securely within the program roster.
What specific safety protocols are in place for students and artists?
Student safety and well-being are the paramount priority for the Fairfax Arts Coalition for Education, and our protocols are designed to meet or exceed those mandated by Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS). All FACE teaching artists, staff, and core volunteers undergo mandatory, rigorous background checks, including state and federal clearances and fingerprinting, before ever interacting with students. Furthermore, we maintain strict student-to-adult ratios for all hands-on workshops and field trips to ensure adequate supervision and personalized attention, with specific ratios published for each program type. Material safety is also critical: we exclusively use non-toxic, age-appropriate art supplies, and our artists are trained in responsible handling and storage of all tools. In the event of an emergency, our resident artists are trained to follow the specific emergency procedures of the partner facility (e.g., school fire drills, lockdown procedures), and all staff carry readily accessible emergency contact information, ensuring rapid, professional response to any unforeseen situation, allowing parents full peace of mind.
How does the arts-integrated curriculum align with academic standards?
Our arts-integrated curriculum is not merely extracurricular; it is a pedagogically rigorous tool explicitly designed to support and deepen student understanding of core academic subjects as defined by the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs). Our Lead Program Evaluator works collaboratively with FCPS curriculum specialists to co-design every residency module, ensuring that the artistic outcomes directly require the application of a specific academic standard. For example, a theater residency focused on character development might be mapped to a 7th-grade English SOL requiring students to analyze narrative perspective and motivation, using dramatic techniques as the vehicle for that analysis. The curriculum includes clear learning objectives that are measurable in both artistic skill development (e.g., demonstrating composition techniques) and academic mastery (e.g., explaining a historical concept). We provide partner teachers with pre- and post-assessment tools to collect data, which repeatedly demonstrates the efficacy of arts integration in improving student engagement and boosting retention of complex subject matter, validating the academic value of our programs.
What is the policy regarding meals, snacks, and student dietary needs?
The policy regarding meals and snacks varies depending on the type and duration of the FACE program. For in-school artist residencies, which typically take place during class time, students follow the partner school’s standard meal schedule, and FACE does not provide food. However, for full-day Summer Camps or extended weekend workshops, we implement a strict safety policy for snacks and lunch. While we do not provide full catered meals, we provide pre-packaged, safe snacks (e.g., certified nut-free) and encourage all families to send clearly labeled, nut-free lunches to protect children with severe allergies, which are common in the community. Mandatory communication of all dietary restrictions, allergies, or necessary medical accommodations must be provided on the registration form, and we require parents to speak directly with the Program Coordinator prior to the start of the program so that our staff can implement individualized protection plans, including designated eating spaces and clear communication among all supervising teaching artists.
What are the typical schedules for in-school residencies and public workshops?
Our programming schedules are varied to maximize accessibility and impact across the community. In-School Artist Residencies typically run for a sustained period, often between six to twelve consecutive weeks, with the teaching artist meeting with the same cohort of students once or twice per week during the standard school day hours, as determined by the partner school’s instructional calendar. This ensures deep, sustained engagement rather than a one-off experience. Conversely, our Public Workshops and Community Camps are scheduled to accommodate working families and school breaks. Workshops are often held in the late afternoon or on Saturday mornings at local community centers, while camps are scheduled during summer, winter, and spring breaks, offering intensive, full-day creative immersion. All schedules are clearly posted on the website’s Program Calendar, and enrolled families receive a detailed weekly schedule via email prior to the program start, alongside immediate email notifications in the rare event of a necessary schedule change or weather-related cancellation.
How is parent and family involvement facilitated and encouraged in FACE programs?
The Fairfax Arts Coalition for Education believes that sustained family involvement significantly amplifies the impact of arts-integrated learning, and we actively cultivate multiple avenues for parents and guardians to participate in and celebrate our work. Firstly, we host accessible, hands-on Family Workshops throughout the year, designed to empower parents with simple techniques for fostering creativity and academic support within the home environment, bridging the gap between school and family life. Secondly, every program concludes with a public-facing component, such as a Student Exhibition, Performance Showcase, or Open Studio Day, for which parent attendance is highly encouraged as a means of validating the child’s creative effort and building their sense of accomplishment. Finally, we invite parents with relevant professional skills (e.g., photography, event planning, communications) to apply for our Volunteer Leadership Roles or serve on our Parent Advisory Committee, allowing families to directly contribute to the strategic and logistical success of the organization, making them true partners in our educational mission.
Join Us
Advance Your Career in Creative Education
Explore Meaningful Career Opportunities with FACE
Career Opportunities: Roles That Truly Make a Difference
The Fairfax Arts Coalition for Education is consistently seeking passionate, experienced, and innovative professionals to join our growing team, offering dynamic career opportunities for individuals who are driven by the belief that the arts are the most powerful catalyst for educational and social change. We recruit for a diverse range of specialized roles, including Teaching Artists who are professional practitioners trained in pedagogical best practices to lead our in-school residencies; Program Coordinators who manage the logistics and scheduling of multiple simultaneous projects across the county; and Development and Communications Specialists who focus on securing funding and raising the visibility of our essential work. Unlike conventional teaching roles, positions at FACE offer unparalleled creative autonomy, providing staff with the opportunity to design and implement groundbreaking interdisciplinary curricula that genuinely merge their artistic expertise with academic instruction. We provide competitive compensation and benefits, recognizing the invaluable expertise that professional artists and experienced educators bring to our mission, ensuring that a career with FACE is both creatively fulfilling and financially sustainable.
Full Contact Details
Organization Name: Fairfax Arts Coalition for Education (FACE)
Address: 4139 FOUNTAINSIDE LANE NUMBER 101, FAIRFAX, VA 22030
Email: info@fface.lat
Contact Us
Connect With Our Team and Join the Conversation
Multiple Ways to Reach the Fairfax Arts Coalition for Education
General Inquiries and Connection Methods
We welcome your questions, feedback, partnership proposals, and ideas, and our dedicated team is readily available to connect with you through multiple convenient channels to ensure that every inquiry is addressed promptly and professionally. For all general questions related to our mission, programs, and community impact, the most efficient method of contact is via electronic mail, which allows us to route your query to the most appropriate team member, ensuring a knowledgeable and comprehensive response. We are also available for phone consultations during standard business hours, Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM EST, for more immediate or detailed discussions regarding enrollment, partnership opportunities, or media inquiries, and we encourage you to leave a detailed voicemail if your call is not answered immediately so we can return it with all necessary information prepared. For written correspondence, grant applications, and official documentation, our mailing address is regularly monitored and serves as the official point of contact for all paper-based communication with the organization.
Full Contact Details
Organization Name: Fairfax Arts Coalition for Education (FACE)
Address: 4139 FOUNTAINSIDE LANE NUMBER 101, FAIRFAX, VA 22030
Email: info@fface.lat
