First Lady Michelle Obama Praises CityDance and Others at Arts Awards Ceremony (photos)

First lady Michelle Obama presented the 2015 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards in the East Room of the White House in Washington D.C. on Nov. 17. Each year, the NAHYP award recognizes the nation’s leading after-school programs for their use of arts and the humanities to increase academic achievement, graduation rates, and college enrollment. She honored programs that teach ceramics, dance, music, writing, science and more. It is the highest honor a youth arts and humanities program can receive. “The evidence is crystal clear. We know what arts means to kids. Kids who get involved in the arts or humanities have higher grades. They have higher graduation rates. They have higher college enrollment rates,” said Michelle Obama.

CityDance, a Washington, D.C., non-profit dance organization, was one of the 13 awardees for its after-school DREAM program. CityDance DREAM is an after-school program that provides dance classes and performance opportunities, mentoring, and tutoring to students in Washington, D.C.’s most underserved communities. CityDance DREAM uses dance as a pathway for youth to graduate high school and discover and pursue their full potential. In 2018, the DREAM program will anchor a new arts center in downtown D.C., The DREAM Center for Dance. It will contain dance studios, a black box theater and study rooms. The first lady presented the award to DREAM director Kelli Quinn and student Valeria Cruz. To learn more about the CityDance DREAMBuilders campaign, visit http://citydance.net/ or Click Here. (All photos by Jeff Malet)

View our photos of all the awardees from the White House East Room by clicking on the photo icons below. (All photos by Jeff Malet)