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Artist Jacob Eveland discusses his work during the inaugural Young & Artful event (photo courtesy Visual Arts Creative Ambassadors).
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Michael-Birch Pierce creates sewn portraits of attendees during the inaugural Young & Artful event (photo courtesy Visual Arts Creative Ambassadors).
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Work by artist Claire McCarty, on sale at the inaugural Young & Artful event (photo courtesy Visual Arts Creative Ambassadors).
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VACA board member Ashby Nickerson dances with Tom Dunlap at Young & Artful (photo courtesy Visual Arts Creative Ambassadors).
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VACA Vice President James Beazley chats with guests at the first Young & Artful event (photo courtesy Visual Arts Creative Ambassadors).
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VACA board member Parks Daniel (lower right) with guests at the first Young & Artful event (photo courtesy Visual Arts Creative Ambassadors).
The Visual Arts Center of Richmond’s Young & Artful event is back this Saturday (Jan. 30) for a second year of emerging artistic talent, food, drink and music. This year’s event will be bigger and better with more artwork, more guests, more space and more fundraising for the community.
Young & Artful is held by the Visual Arts Creative Ambassadors (VACA), an auxiliary association of the VisArts board of directors. VACA’s goal for this event is to introduce — or reintroduce — VisArts to as many people as possible while generating support for VisArts’ programming, says VACA president Zach Hunt.
VisArts offers access to the arts through community outreach programs such as ENGAGE, Art After School, Space of Her Own (SOHO) and more. An addition to these programs will be the Adult Scholarship Fund, which will provide financial assistance to help cover tuition for VisArts classes. All adults – students, new graduates and older adults in particular – will have the option to apply for financial aid based on their incomes.
“Programs like SOHO and the Sharon Siegel Visual Arts Program demonstrate exactly what a center like VisArts can contribute to the city,” Hunt says. “Being a part of and contributing to something that valuable and meaningful is incredibly rewarding.”
Young & Artful helps VACA spread community awareness of the arts, especially in the young professional sector, support VisArts’ programming and show off the center’s facilities, all while having a great time, Hunt says.
This year’s event will feature art from a broad spectrum of mediums including painting, ink, fiber, photography, jewelry and more. In addition to the live art that will be created throughout the night, each of the 31 artists will have pieces featured in this year’s silent auction.
Featured artists include: Liz Borsetti, Elaine Butcher, Daniel Crawford, Alicia Dietz, Sean Donlon, Jamie Douglas, Miranda Elliott, Jacob Eveland, Andrew Fedynak, Maria Galuszka, Brooke Inman, Rosemary Jesionowski, Aimee Joyaux, Alain Joyaux, Blythe King, Amelia Blair Langford, Matt Lively, Claire McCarty, Sarah Midkiff, Lizzie Carter Oliver, Kristin Polich, Zoë Powell, Meg Roberts, Travis Robertson, Alyssa Salomon, Katie Shaw, Maggie Smith, Ed Trask, Tommy Van Auken, Hillary Waters and Jeremy Zietz.
The event will have a 1980s theme — complete with neon colors and side ponytails — and the band Party of Four will play period cover music. The Cultured Swine will provide food, and there will be wine and beer from Ardent Craft Ales. There will even be a creative concoction called a “POPtail,” the official cocktail of the evening that mixes Ginger Juice and a King of Pops frozen treat.
VACA is also bringing in a heated tent in anticipation of a repeat sellout event with more than 350 people. Tickets will not be sold at the door.
Young & Artful will run from 8 to 11 p.m. on Jan. 30. Tickets are $55 per person or $100 per couple, available at visarts.org/young-artful/.
