Serenity. Light. Space. Privacy. The ability to work uninterrupted for hours, days, weeks in a quiet studio cradled in 450 acres of rolling Blue Ridge farmland. These are just a few of the reasons why more than 300 of the world's foremost writers, composers, and visual artists come to the VCCA each year. At Mt. San Angelo, we provide residential fellowships of two weeks to two months where artists may work, free from the distractions and responsibilities of daily life. Each residency includes a comfortable, private bedroom, three meals a day, and a private studio where artists may concentrate on their work.
A community of artistic excellence
The artists who come to the VCCA produce some of the most important artworks in the country. The high quality of VCCA Fellows is demonstrated by the level of their achievement. Among our Fellows are recipients of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Academy in Rome, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, as well as winners of National Book Awards, Pulitzer Prizes, and MacArthur genius awards. More than 3,000 artists have benefited from residencies at the VCCA over the years, making it, in the words of one of our Fellows, "one of the most important sources of art in the world."
A short history
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.
Pictured Above: VCCA Fellow Erica Daborn. Self-portrait
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