Volume IV | Dec 31 2020
Looking Forward...

Looking forward as we enter 2021... we wish you a Happy New Year!!

As 2020 comes to a close, we look forward to new beginnings in 2021. Our thoughts turn to you and the needs of our community. Whatever challenges you have faced in this unprecedented and unpredictable year, may you find joy, peace, and good health in 2021. Thank you for staying engaged with DMFAH. We’ll still be bringing art and history programming to you, and look forward to continuing to keep you informed of exhibitions, virtual programs, events, and other DMFAH news. From the DMFAH family to yours—we wish you a safe and joyful holiday season, and all the best in the New Year!
Please note that the Museum will close at 2 pm New Years Eve. The Museum will open to the public again on Tuesday January 5.
Programming with the Danville Historical Society
DHS, and DMFA&H will be partnering to produce the second "Danville and Pittsylvania County Memories" book in 2021. Photographs in this collection will need to be cited and titled for future archivists, researchers, and for the public. Dave Corpe, who is a staff member at the museum and a board member of the Danville Historical Society, led a small group of researchers (including the Museum Intern Aidan Thomas) through a workshop on Tuesday, December 15, 2020. This workshop showed the group how to use Newspapers.com and Newspaperarchives.com to retrieve and document research photos that may have been in the Register or the Bee.
DMFAH supports community engagement through Residency Program
DMFAH and DRF have partnered to distribute a total of $ 6,000 to 12 Museum Residents in 2020. These residency-stipends offer opportunities to writers, artists, film makers and performers, as well as educators to work with the Danville community in a meaningful way around specific topics of interest and our DMFAH collections. Thanks to the legacy gift of Elizabeth Compton and friends and family of Debbi Kleisch, the DMFAH was also able to create a DMFAH Community Foundation Agency Fund that would further help us establish this valuable program. This Year we were able to:
·     Produce a VR360 video for the Camilla Williams exhibition, and present a community class on Free VR formats for small businesses
·     Offer a writing workshop and a collection of video stories, as well as historical content that focus on the Civil Rights Timeline
·     Upload the first comprehensive education unit on Sutherlin Mansion histories, which include civil rights (which will be featured on the VDEO newsletter in January).
·     Brought the VMFA Artmobile back to Danville in the summer of 2020.
·     collect during 2020 Black Lives Matter regional interviews that will now be accessible on the DMFAH website in 2021.
·     Installed the first Museum Mural in the entryway of House 126, while offering a stipend to two local artists for completing this work.
·     Launched programming that will take a conceptual look at equity topics.
These funds offer relief stipends to visual artists, video producers, writers and performers. We had a total of 12 participants for the 2020 year and, with the help of DRF, will carry the program forward to 2021. For more information on our DMFAH residencies, please visit our website: https://www.danvillemuseum.org/residencies


We are so grateful to The Danville Regional Foundation and also the Virginia Humanities for their trust in us, and for choosing to invest in the communities of Danville, Pittsylvania County and Caswell County. It is an honor to be able to provide support to so many university students, artists, writers, educators, performers and videographers who engage with our communities. These cultural engagements, meet community needs that are critical at this moment. The DMFAH believes that these efforts will allow the arts in our region to survive and thrive for future generations living in the Dan River Region.

Josh Lucia, May videographer in residence working with Averet Student.
Thank You to Our Danville Community Partners
WE COULD NOT DO WHAT WE DO, WITHOUT YOU!!!
Non-Profit Networks; Smokestack Theater Company; CCECC; River District Association; Wednesday Club; Garden Club of Danville; Gabriella Garden Club; Garden Club of Virginia; Crema and Vine; Midtown Market; Links; Mucho’s; The Garage; Boys and Girls Club; Danville Community College; Averett University; Middle Border Forward; Parks and Recreation; City Office; Danville-Pittsylvania Chamber of Commerce; The Star Tribune; The Register and Bee; The Research Institute for Advanced Learning; The Danville Historical Society; Chatham First; AKA Sorority, Firefly Yoga.
Intern Service Spotlight
The DMFAH Internship program… where stars are born.
At the end of 2020 we want to salute all our hard working DMFAH interns, who have contributed to making the Museum a vibrant, busy, and meaningful space for cultural programming, that meets the needs of the whole community. Each and every one of you have made a difference this year. Thank you Aidan Thomas; Adessa Breakley; John Sheridan; Tripp Hayes; Dillan Oxendine and Tomi-Lauren McGinnis.
Dillan Oxendine, Tripp Hayes,John Sheridan, Aidan Thomas, Adessa Breakly, and volunteer Kent Martling.
Crossroads:Change in Rural America Exhibition
The Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History has teamed up with VAM and Virginia Humanities and are proud to partner on bringing the Smithsonian's newest Museum on Main Street exhibition, Crossroads: Change in Rural America to Chatham Virginia in 2021. A stipulation for the exhibition was that it be presented in an area with a population of 25,,000 or fewer, and Chatham met that criterion. This exhibition will offer those who travel to Chatham from Danville, Lynchburg, Gretna, rural Pittsylvania County and the surrounding areas an opportunity to experience this compelling Smithsonian exhibition in person.


The Chatham Reid Street Gallery will be the site for the Smithsonian exhibition and ODAC, Chatham First and the Pittsylvania Library system will work closely with us to make sure the exhibition is accessible to all, and to make sure everybody can take advantage of this unique exhibition opportunity.
WANDERLOVE: A Stitch in Time
Threads of Connection
This fiber, knitting & crochet collaboration by the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History, recognizes the building of community found within the age-old practice of gathering to assemble fabric and knitted pieces in small groups. This interactive winter community project, produced from January through June, celebrates and reflects people’s many different backgrounds and experiences. Participants are invited to collaborate in the making of a "Yarn bombing" installation along the Danville Riverwalk, and share their COVID19 stories. Visitors participating from home are invited to create their own assembled yarn covering, using materials you have on hand – T-shirt fabric, thread, and recycled sweaters! Kitted, Crochet or constructed fabric contributions will be added to our WANDERLOVE: A Stitch in Time Yarn Bomb installation in the summer months of July – September, 2021 creating a assembled reflection of the community in bright, joyful colors. 
To find out more about this program and to receive a knitting schedule with drop off and pick up points as well as scheduled zoom meetings, please contact us at: 434.793.564/ info@danvillemuseum.org/ visit the museum.
Online Exhibitions, Books and Video's
Online Exhibitions, Books and Video’s
We would like to share with you for the New Year, our selection of favorite history and art exhibitions, books, and videos to look at. HERE are offerings by:
Support DMFAH Cultural Programming with a Year-End Donation
The CARES Act allows for a $300 Above-the-Line charitable donation deduction for filers who claim the standard deduction on their taxes. 
If you donate up to $300 in cash to a qualified organization like the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History, your adjusted gross income will be reduced by your donation amounts. That ultimately lowers your tax bill—and you can still claim the standard deduction.


A year-end donation to DMFAH might lower your tax bill, but the true value lies in helping the museum bring high-quality history exhibitions, visual art installations, performing arts, as well as Museum education programming to our community and our schools.