New City Arts Initiative

The Staunton Augusta Art Center, located in Staunton, Virginia, is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing art experiences and education to individuals from all backgrounds. With a diverse and inclusive approach, they strive to create welcoming and educational opportunities through the visual arts for the entire community. Housed in the historic R.R. Smith Center for History Art, the center features galleries, classrooms, archives, conference space, a garden, and offices for non-profit cultural organizations. Supported by the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the City of Staunton, and the Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge, the Staunton Augusta Art Center is committed to promoting artistic expression and fostering a vibrant arts community.Generated from the website

The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts opened in 1971 and operated for five years in the Charlottesville area, first at Wavertree Farm and then at the Prospect Hill estate. Begun by writers Elizabeth Coles Langhorne and Nancy Hale, it counted among its original board members the novelist Peter Taylor and the former director of the MacDowell Colony, George Kendall. In the summers of 1976 and 1977, the VCCA held limited sessions on the campus of Sweet Briar College, a vibrant liberal arts women's college founded in 1901. In the fall of 1977, Sweet Briar agreed to lease the buildings and the adjacent grounds of Mt. San Angelo to the VCCA. The original 25-year lease has now been extended to an automatically renewing 15-year lease. As the only artist community in the nation directly associated with an institution of higher learning, the VCCA benefits tremendously from this unique relationship. The College generously allows Fellows to use many of its facilities and services, including the libraries, computer labs, pool, exercise rooms and walking trails. Fellows may also attend campus events such as lectures, plays and concerts. In return, VCCA Fellows periodically visit with students on campus, giving lectures or informal talks, and faculty members bring students to Mt. San Angelo for studio tours. The two institutions also formally collaborate on several mutually beneficial programs that bring writers, visual artists and composers to the VCCA and Sweet Briar and also offer opportunities to faculty and students. Virginia Center for the Creative Arts 154 San Angelo Drive, VA 24521 Amherst P. 434-946-7236 vcca@vcca.com