New City Arts Initiative (est. 2009) is a collaborative community that supports artists and facilitates cultural participation in Charlottesville, Virginia. We do this through:
ABOUT THE CONTEXT: In the last two years, Charlottesville has lost many downtown art spaces that once supported local artists. Galleries that were essential to our First Friday art walk have closed. Artists struggle to find affordable studio space. Creative, collaborative groups have recently found it difficult to find event venues for small arts performances.
Working through partnerships — like our gallery at a local radio station and a residency at a downtown day shelter — New City Arts has worked to address these needs in alternative spaces. However, our arts events are packed in ad hoc spaces, preventing us from broadening our audience and serving more artists, due to a lack of physical capacity.
ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY: Within the last year, New City Arts began looking for a physical space that would position us to better serve the Charlottesville arts community. We needed it to be:
A few months ago, 114 3rd Street N.E. — a 1400 sq. ft. downtown, storefront property with a brick exterior and modern interior — became available. Last month (September 2015), we moved in and opened a new art space in this location calledWelcome Gallery.
This new location houses our staff offices, a gallery with monthly exhibit openings and weekly open hours, a short-term residency program for local artists, and a downtown event venue for small arts performances.
ABOUT THE NEED: For the last five years, the New City Arts headquarters was located at The Haven, a community partner whose facilities provided us with tables, a printer, desks, chairs, a copier, lights, heat, air conditioning, filing cabinets, trash cans, event space, event tables, event chairs, a kitchen, phone, and internet.
Our new downtown location (114 3rd St. NE) is an exciting opportunity to provide a much-needed, multi-function space for our community. However, in order to provide artist services and regular community outreach, we need the following: