ArtStream is leaving the building it shares with Lumina Theatre. Photo by Mike Diegel.
ArtStream, Inc., a Silver Spring-based, performance-focused organization, is moving its administrative office from 620 Pershing Dr. to Chevy Chase.
The principal reason for the move, a staffer told Source of the Spring, is that the current office, located on a the second floor of a building the group shares with Lumina Theatre, is not accessible to people with disabilities, the organization’s primary constituents.
Five women who were co-workers at Imagination Stage, a children’s theater in Bethesda, founded the organization in 2005.
It was created with the mission that “through collaborative performance and lifelong learning opportunities, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities gain the skills and confidence to engage with the world.”
The organization now has six Inclusive Theater Companies in Silver Spring, Gaithersburg and Arlington. These companies feature performances by adult actors with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including autism, and other social and behavioral needs, who work with volunteer mentors and theater professionals to create original performances, according to ArtStream’s website.
Classes include comedy, music theatre, improv, public speaking, role-play, party dancing and social skills for the individuals they serve.
The organization also offers military hospital programs that focus on music, creative writing, visual arts and improvisational expression.
The office will move to 8401 Connecticut Ave., Suite 1230. The phone number remains the same (301.565.4567). The group’s blog notes that all ArtStream classes will remain in their current locations.