Photo by Barrett Baker The Peninsula Fine Arts Center (PFAC) closed its doors at the end of 2020 after 58 years of service to the local arts community and patrons. The new Mary M. Torggler Fine Arts Center on the…
“From my very first concert with them,” Says Eric Jacobson, “I just felt this willingness among the musicians to be vulnerable—to try different things, to play big, to emote and to love. All of those things translate very powerfully to…
By Ava Baker By the time Sandy Short was in the second grade, her two younger sisters occupied much of their mother’s attention. A project she had started with her mother’s help—creating a mini wardrobe for Sandy’s Barbies—was now on…
While many of our great local arts organizations did their best to keep the creativity alive over the past two years with virtual performances and other imaginative non-traditional programming, we all know there is nothing better than the real thing.…
Most people tend to slow down when they enter their golden years—but that’s hardly the case for world-renown composer Adolphus Hailstork, who recently retired from his teaching position at Old Dominion University. At age 80, the Virginia Beach resident is…
Surface designer, Alison Glass, is based in the Yorktown area, but her reach extends far beyond. One of the designers with Andover Fabrics, a 100-year-old family-owned company based in New York City,…
By Clayton Singleton Too often, I scroll food delivery apps on my phone, begrudge which grocery to visit or stare into my fridge indecisively like the cereal aisle scene in the film The Hurt Locker. I commonly refer to these…
By Hannah Serrano To say it’s been a tough year for the arts is, of course, a vast understatement. Arts organizations and venues are fighting hard to survive. Some remain shuttered through the fall; some are streaming digital performances in…
On any given Friday or Saturday night—in normal pre-COVID times—the outdoor space between the Virginia Arts Festival building at the corner of Bank and East Charlotte Streets in Downtown Norfolk would likely be buzzing with arts patrons and event goers,…
The darkened theaters at the Met and on Broadway represent the ultimate symbols of the pandemic’s devastation of the art world. There are so many things to care about and fight for in 2020, but we’ve all seen the ways…
Never underestimate the power of imagination—even in the face of a lingering pandemic. In a new virtual production co-commissioned by the Virginia Arts Festival, renowned mentalist and performance artist Scott Silven gets inside the memories, minds and hearts of audience…
By some estimates, 90% of the world’s museums—art, science and everything in…
Living history, taverns and binderies, oh my! The Colonial Williamsburg that Virginians know and love has always been all that and much more. In fact, it is the world’s largest living history museum. But as of June 14, 2020, it…
We are bringing our favorite brunch hot spots together under one roof for an event that is sure to delight the taste buds. Enjoy scrumptious brunch bites, a mimosa quad with every ticket and a bloody mary competition, plus live…
Experience the Virginia International Tattoo through VAF's new Virtual Connections program. Stay-at-home orders may have you missing afternoons lingering at your favorite art museum or the excitement of experiencing a live performance on stage, but the COVID-19 quarantine doesn’t have to…
Photos courtesy of r. LUSK Studios Tucked amongst locksmith, auto repair and sign shops, a tattoo parlor, a kitchen and bath showroom and an HVAC supply company near Virginia Beach’s Town Center is a small business of a different ilk. …
If you’ve never been to the theater before, there is something indescribably exciting about watching a live performance. The performers project a pure passion for their craft. The music fills your entire being and carries you away with the rest…
You might say the art of local painter Gerome Meminger encompasses two sides. One is his fine arts side, where he’ll use small brushes to incorporate intricate detail to his pieces, sometimes spending weeks completing a single painting inside his…
On June 10, the inaugural Hampton Roads Caribbean Film Festival took place at Slover Library in Norfolk, setting out to start a new tradition of sharing the importance of the Caribbean-American community through short films, features and documentaries. With Coastal Virginia…
A little bit of Black Rock City is coming to Norfolk in quite the unique way. In case you’re not familiar with Burning Man, it’s an annual gathering that takes place in a temporary metropolis called Black Rock City that…
A crossroads of cultures and the spirit of tall tales have come alive at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art’s (MOCA) Southern Routes in Virginia Beach. Opening May 12 with a private reception the prior evening, the exhibition is a…
Organized by the Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh, Pa., Mindful is no typical “craft show.” Rather, using traditional craft materials in unexpected ways, the 14 artists in Virginia MOCA’s latest exhibition explore the often subterranean and misunderstood range of…
A little bit of West Coast cool is infusing East Coast tradition in the form of Urban Theory Studios. There since 2015, artist-owner Kelly Seeber, a transplant from the San Francisco Bay Area, creates energetic paintings with an urban edge…
The artist community in Coastal Virginia, as elsewhere, is a microcosm of the larger population, including its diverse attitudes toward topics like sustainability. The four artists profiled here could scarcely be more different, including the role that eco issues play in their studio practices.
