News & Events
Sitar Arts Center Submits D.C. Council Testimony on Youth Curfew and Youth Development
On May 15, 2026, Sitar Arts Center submitted testimony to the D.C. Council regarding the impact of the District’s youth curfew and increased security measures on young people participating in arts education, employment, and other out-of-school opportunities.
The testimony reflects concerns shared directly by students in our programs, many of whom described feeling increasingly hesitant to travel throughout the city or participate in opportunities that support their artistic, academic, and professional growth. While policies intended to improve public safety are important, young people also need access to welcoming spaces, trusted adults, and consistent opportunities that help them thrive.
At Sitar, we believe youth should have a voice in the policies that affect their lives. By sharing our students’ experiences with the Council, we sought to ensure those perspectives were part of the public conversation and to advocate for continued investment in youth development, creative career pathways, and community-based programs that strengthen safety through opportunity.
Read Sitar Arts Center’s full testimony below.
Council of the District of Columbia Testimony
May 15, 2026
Tara Malik, Chief Program Officer, Sitar Arts Center
Kristina Friedgen, Director of Creative Career Programs, Sitar Arts Center
Ashley-Rebekah Meads-Edinger, Creative Career Programs Coordinator, Sitar Arts Center
Since 2000, Sitar Arts Center has engaged over 6,000 children, teens, and young adults in building a creative community of learning and belonging that removes financial and cultural barriers to arts education and career training. As a creative youth development nonprofit in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C., Sitar has engaged young people from early childhood to young adulthood in affordable, high-impact arts education and creative career programming while expanding access to opportunity for young people facing socioeconomic barriers. Eighty percent of youth come from households at 60% or less of the Area Median Family Income, with over half at 30% or less. Seventy percent live in Wards 1, 4, and 5, where access to the arts remains limited and urgently needed.
Our teen and young adult participants have shared with us the challenges they face in engaging fully in our programming due to the youth curfew enforced throughout the city. We have experienced and heard of growing concerns regarding how these measures — alongside the increased militarization and visible presence of the National Guard throughout D.C. — affect youth engagement, mobility, and trust within the city. Older youth at Sitar participate with us as students, interns, and assistant teachers during their out of school time. Many of our young people have shared feelings of being unfairly targeted, over-policed, or discouraged from participating in positive out-of-school time activities, employment opportunities, community programs, and cultural events throughout D.C., including participation in Mayor Marion S. Barry’s Summer Youth Employment Program. We have begun to see signs that youth, especially those who would benefit most from these creative and professional development opportunities, are choosing to end their participation early or not apply at all – even for our highest paid internship (which pays youth at $26/hour), rather than risk their safety.
For many teens and young adults, especially those involved in structured enrichment programs, internships, arts initiatives, and leadership opportunities, the curfew and heightened security presence can create additional barriers to accessing safe spaces that are intended to support their growth and development. Families and other youth-serving organizations at the hearing also expressed concern about how these highly visible enforcement measures may impact young people’s sense of belonging, emotional safety, and relationship with their community and local government.
Young people thrive when they feel seen, heard, supported, and included in conversations that directly impact their lives. At our annual, student-produced Set in DC Film Festival, which featured the work of filmmakers ages 14-24, two of the 11 films focused on the impact of ICE’s presence in D.C. Two youth shared the following about their experiences:
“As a Sitar intern for this past year, I have been lucky to get to know the kids that take classes. Because Sitar is such a welcoming space, it is often easy to forget just how unwelcoming and unsafe that ICE and our law enforcement has made countless communities feel outside our safe haven.” -2025 Intern, Age 17
“A senior at my school was arrested and sent to a facility for months, preventing him from working at a restaurant to save up for his family and attend UDC in the fall. How is it that D.C., a city meant to symbolize natural democracy and unity, been transformed by policing into a place where only white presenting individuals can walk the streets without fear?” -2025 Intern, Age 17
We believe that long-term youth safety is best supported through continued investment in mentorship, accessible programming, mental health resources, workforce development, artistic expression, and opportunities for meaningful civic engagement — rather than approaches that may unintentionally create fear or alienation among young residents. Rather than criminalizing youth, we advocate for the city to invest more in out-of-school-time programs, like Sitar Arts Center, to build organizational capacity to provide safe spaces with enriching programs, internships, and activities to greater numbers of youth and for longer hours of the day.