Visual Arts Center of Richmond

Make Space is an outreach program that pairs 12 sixth grade girls who live in challenging circumstances with 12 women mentors for a shared journey through art-based leadership and personal development workshops. The program culminates with each girl and mentor team using the artwork they created to transform the girl’s bedroom into an inspiring environment, making a new space to study, live, and dream within. By experiencing leadership and life training through a hands-on learning process, art exploration, and creative mentoring, the women and girls expand the way they see and engage in relationships, transforming spaces and lives—inside and out. An in-depth program, girls enjoy 70+ active contact hours with their mentors. VisArts is proud to partner with Anna Julia Cooper Episcopal School to engage all the girls in their 6th grade class with Make Space programming each year.

Studio S art classes are designed to nourish the minds, bodies, and spirits of our city’s seniors. Multi-week hands-on arts classes stimulate creative thinking, help seniors realize hidden talents, and provide social opportunities in a creative atmosphere. By working with colors, patterns, textures, and tools, Studio S participants keep their minds flexible, improve memory, and maintain dexterity. The opportunity to socialize and create something beautiful with their hands reinvigorates our senior students and encourages healthy aging. Studio S participants enjoy classes in a variety of media including clay, wood, fiber arts, painting, printmaking, glass, drawing, and oral histories. In the past, classes met once a week for three hours over a six-week period. Studio S students also enjoy guided tours of exhibitions in VisArts’ acclaimed True F. Luck gallery. We partner with area organizations and the YMCA growing younger program to reach seniors living in Richmond’s East End. Seniors receive a combination of art, music and exercise classes through this partnership.

Summer ArtVenture offers week-long studio art classes in a positive, nurturing learning environment. Each class provides focused attention on a specific media, skill or subject, and each week brings a selection of unique choices. All classes are taught by a professional artist and artists-educators who will help inspire and develop individual expression.
 
Morning studio classes (9:00am – 12:00pm) and afternoon studio classes (1:00 – 4:00pm) classes are available for all age groups. Enrollment is limited to 10 students per class to allow for individual instruction and learning. Some classes integrate teamwork or collaborative projects.
 
A limited number of scholarships are available each year and are awarded on the basis of need.