On TV's Scandal, Kerry Washington's character Olivia Pope may be pitted against the first lady, but in real-life Washington's teaming up with Michelle Obama to promote arts in education.

The FLOTUS and the Scandal star took the stage together Friday at Washington D.C.'s Savoy School, based in the city's Anacostia neighborhood. They witnessed performances from students at the elementary school, checked out some artwork, and even got in a little bit of dancing.

The first lady brought a message of perseverance, that it's okay to fail, but more important to keep working hard. She guided the students to "try new things and not be afraid to fail, because we have all failed."

"It's not about what you know, it's about the effort that you put in, the amount of work that you're willing to do to get where you're going," Obama continued.

She even used her companion Washington as a potential source of inspiration for the children; she noted that the actress got to where she is now -- "Kerry is a big-time star right now; I mean, there is no bigger star right now," she said emphatically -- because of her own hard work, even in the face of rejection.

"She spent a lot of time practicing and working and trying out for things and having people tell her 'no,' 'no, thank you,' 'you're not good enough, you're not pretty enough,'" the first lady said. "Could you imagine somebody telling Kerry that she wasn't pretty enough, she wasn't tall enough, she was too short? That's all performing is, is rejection.

"But when you work hard and you invest thousands of hours in anything, you get better. And that's what you guys are learning here at Savoy."

The Savoy School was one of eights schools chose last year for The Turnaround Arts Initiative, part of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. The program was established to bring artistic education to low-income or under-performing schools, in hopes of improving their performance.

Washington serves an arts ambassador to the school (Forest Whitaker and Sarah Jessica Parker have also recently adopted schools), and she praised the work that programs is doing to help students like the ones at Savoy.

"It opens them up," said the actress. "It helps them be front and center, not just on the stage but in their lives and in the classroom."

Tags
Michelle Obama, Kerry Washington