Workhouse Arts Center Provides Opportunities For Kids

LORTON, Va. (WUSA) -- The all-brick buildings were made by inmates and the suffragists were once imprisoned here. Now, it's completed it's transformation into a lively, bustling and multi-faceted arts center.

Professional artists have their studios here, and they also teach classes for people of all ages. Ceramics, watercolors, acrylics, oil, performance, film, etc. Many courses are for children.

"You have these experts coming with their passion for art into the community. Hopefully, it permeates down to these young children," said Catherine Thompson, the mother of a preschooler taking a watercolor class.

So far, the center has worked with 12 schools in Falls Church and Fairfax and Prince William Counties. Either the children are buses here, or the teachers go there to supplement what they're learning in school.

"With budget cuts and the way things are now, often, the arts are the first to go, unfortunately. One of the nice things about coming here, is that we can provide professional artists, professional educators and give the student a fantastic experience," said Joseph Wallen the Director of the Workhouse Institute.

The center's summer camp program was filled with 1,300 students and now many children come to classes in the evenings and on weekends. About twenty percent of the students are home-schooled and come for weekday classes.