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The Future of Contemporary Arts in Charlottesville is Now.
In 1998 the leaders of Live Arts, Charlottesville's performing arts theater, Second Street Gallery, Central Virginia's first contemporary art space, and Light House, the region's only media arts education center for teens, asked a simple question that sparked a campaign to transform Charlottesville's cultural landscape.
They asked what if they could work together to solve a common problem and pursue a common dream.
The problem: Inadequate operating space.
The dream: To create a new, shared facility dedicated to contemporary performing and visual arts and education.
The solution: United by their vision, the organizations joined forces and began a campaign to raise funds for their new home, City Center for Contemporary Arts. Hailed by City Councilman Maurice Cox as an example of "phenomenal thinking outside the box," the collaborative project promises to enrich the cultural life of Central Virginia for decades to come.
Here's a closer look at the organizations your gift to the campaign for City Center for Contemporary Arts will support:
Live Arts: Forging Theater and Community
Founded in 1990, Live Arts is Charlottesville's cutting-edge theater with an unlikely blend of professional standards, high production values, and bold, modern work with a commitment to amateur actors and broad-based community support. In the past thirteen years, Live Arts has fostered the creation of more than 90 works, ranging from new interpretations of classics to avante garde performance art. Live Arts runs a full theater season from September to June enjoyed by 15,000 audience members every year, theater education programs, and the Live Arts Summer Theater Institute.
Live Arts is without doubt one of Charlottesville's greatest assets. I've been privileged to experience theater all over the world, and I can honestly say that the work created by Live Arts ranks with the best of it. I have always been a loyal supporter, attending shows whenever I'm in town and missing its lively fusion of artists and adventurous work whenever I'm away.
-Rita Dove, Pulitzer Prize Winner, Former United States Poet Laureate
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Second Street Gallery: A Forum for Artists and Audiences
Founded in 1973, Second Street Gallery is one of the longest surviving non-profit arts spaces in the country. In the past thirty years, Second Street Gallery has produced over 200 exhibitions displaying the works of over 600 artists from all career stages. Every year, SSG also presents a full calendar of lectures, workshops, tours and publications. An estimated 14,000 individuals enjoy SSG exhibitions every year. Since its founding, SSG has never charged an admission fee.
…rightfully considered to be mounting the best and most challenging exhibitions in Virginia.
-Art Papers
Light House: Young Storytellers Telling Stories on Screen
Founded in 1999, Light House is a nonprofit, independent, media education center for teenagers who want to make movies with an emphasis on personal expression and local stories. Light House provides mentor-led, uncensored workshops, a screening room, a DVD, VHS and book library; and dynamic exhibition opportunities to young people, urging them to communicate their stories and ideas to the larger community. Light House work has been broadcast on PBS' Scanline series, is exhibited on Public Access and is seen in local traveling installations and in public screenings.
Light House is not a school for kids who know they want to become filmmakers, but a first door into a variety of creative possibilities. The mentors want to give teenagers the means and skills to make movies, but more than that, they want to give them the confidence to pursue whatever they love, be it fine arts, music, technology, or-more likely than not in this new century-a combination of all these media.
-64 Magazine
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