Welcome to VCCA's community newsletter focused on keeping Fellows, staff, and supporters connected.

It's the beginning of a new fiscal year at VCCA. This month marks the one-year anniversary of VCCA's reopening after our COVID-19 closure — and two years since VCCA announced the purchase of its beloved home at Mt. San Angelo in the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. We're grateful to have had a steady flow of Fellows in residence these past twelve months and to be hosting regular in-person community gatherings. Today's newsletter highlights upcoming and recent events, application details for residencies in Virginia and abroad, and news of recent fellowship recipients.

Plus, we are still reveling in an even bigger milestone. VCCA wrapped up its fiscal year with a successful 50th birthday fundraiser benefitting our 50th Anniversary Fund. Thank you to all who have helped us celebrate VCCA's history while taking important steps forward for the future of VCCA's artist community.

Thank you to the more than 100 guests who gathered at Mt. San Angelo on Saturday, June 25, 2022, in celebration of the first 50 years of the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts!

The event raised over $100,000 for the 50th Anniversary Fund. That means VCCA will be able to fund at least 50 free artist residencies in the coming year for artists of color who are new to VCCA.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this important initiative to ensure VCCA’s artist community reflects the diversity of the U.S. population. This is just one step along the way to VCCA’s ultimate goal — to build an endowment large enough to sustain free residencies for every artist who participates in our programs.

VCCA invites visitors to Mt. San Angelo on Sunday, July 17, from 4 to 6 p.m., for our next Open Studios! This free event is open to the community. Light refreshments will be available.

Participating Artists: So far, the following writers, visual artists, and composers in residence have agreed to open their studios to the public. Come see their work and chat with them about their creative processes:

Watch this page for more participating artists to be announced before the event!

To help keep our artist community safe, we ask that all guests be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and be willing to wear facial coverings while indoors.

VCCA is pleased to announce that writer Nicholas Boggs has been named the 2022 recipient of VCCA’s newly endowed Steven Petrow LGBTQ+ Fellowship.

During his upcoming writing residency at VCCA, Boggs will be at work on a biography of James Baldwin, under contract at Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Boggs will arrive at Mt. San Angelo straight from Europe after conducting the last of his research for the book in Istanbul, where Baldwin spent much of the 1960s.

“I hope to use the time at the residency as a springboard for the book’s completion later this year,” said Boggs. “Thank you so much to VCCA and to Mr. Petrow for this essential support!”

Steven Petrow added, “Congratulations to Nicholas, and to all who applied. At times like this, we must lift LGBTQ+ voices in concert with those of other communities.”

Thanks to 2022 Anne Spencer Fellow Jared Smith for sharing his work as a composer with the community last month — and to everyone who came out to enjoy! Afterward, VCCA Fellows and staff toured the Anne Spencer House & Garden Museum.

Established in 2017 in honor of Harlem Renaissance poet and civil rights activist Anne Spencer, the Anne Spencer Fellowship provides a one-month residency and $1,500 honorarium to writers, visual artists, and composers of African American descent. Anne Spencer Fellows tour the Anne Spencer House & Garden Museum and participate in a community-based activity in coordination with the Anne Spencer Memorial Foundation, Inc.

Now accepting applications! Composers of African American descent are invited to apply for the Summer 2023 Anne Spencer Fellowship.

Thank you to Sabine van den Bergh for recent photos from VCCA's artist residency program at Le Moulin à Nef. Applications are currently being accepted from VCCA Fellows for 2023 residencies in Auvillar, France.

Writers, visual artists, and composers who have not been in residence at Mt. San Angelo in the last two years are invited to apply for residencies of varying lengths with flexible scheduling during our Summer 2023 residency season (May – August). A variety of fully-funded fellowships and significant financial aid are available for this application period. Learn more »

For Fellows who have had a residency in Virginia, VCCA offers the opportunity to apply for residencies at Le Moulin à Nef in Auvillar, France, a lovely village on the Garonne River. A residency at Le Moulin à Nef is an immersive experience, rich in history, architecture, wonderful wine, and food with Roman, Gallic, and Occitan influences. Learn more »

Six-week residency opportunities, June 1 – July 15, 2023, are provided for four VCCA Fellows (two visual artists, a writer, and a composer). Learn more »

A cultural exchange with the city of Salzburg, this four-week residency in August 2023 for a visual artist provides a combined studio and living space, as well as a stipend. Learn more »

Fellows, share your news. This is a way to tell the VCCA community about your work. We're always especially interested in stories about work created in connection to your VCCA residency.

Len Lawson has received the 2022 South Carolina Humanities Governor's Award for Fresh Voices in the Humanities.

Rob Southard's Bluegrass Portrait series is featured in the July 2022 issue of Ace Magazine.

"My debut novel, Three Muses, which won the Petrichor Prize for Finely Crafted Fiction, is coming out on September 20, 2022. I wrote and revised much of it at VCCA. It's ballet meets the Holocaust, a story of memory and love. Thank you VCCA for time and space!"

Christopher Linforth has a new story collection out. The Distortions (Orison Books, 2022) won the 2020 Orison Books Fiction Prize.

Michael Waters and Mihaela Moscaliuc will read in Bryant Park, NYC, on Tuesday, July 26, at 6 p.m. Michael's new book, Sinnerman, will appear next year from Etruscan Press.

"My seventh collection of poetry, The Angel of Absolute Zero, has just been released in the Poiema Poetry Series of Cascade Books. It's available at the usual places, Bookshop.org and Amazon, or from Wipf & Stock Publishers."

Browse VCCA's page on Bookshop.org to find new books written by VCCA Fellows.

VCCA Fellows: To tell VCCA about your forthcoming books, send us your news.

🧡 Stay safe, and be well.

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