Email us if you offer arts classes for free or at a reduced price for low-income families.
Albemarle Ballet Theater
The Albemarle Ballet Theatre (ABT) provides dancing opportunities for students of all backgrounds and skill levels, including adults. For five years, ABT has offered ballet, jazz, and modern dance classes in downtown Crozet. Beginners of all ages, budding dancers, future professionals, and lifelong enthusiasts take classes in ABT’s professional dance studio located above Crozet Pizza in the historic Fruit-Growers Coop building. To download the 2012-2013 class schedule and registration form, click here. For more information, please email dance@aballet.org or call (434) 823-8888.
Artisans Center of Virginia
The Artisans Center of Virginia (ACV) Studio School courses are open to anyone interested in trying their hand at creating functional based 3-D art as well as practicing artists who wish to discover new avenues and trends in their chosen media. Artist Entrepreneur courses are open to artists from all walks of the creative arts (visual, functional, performance, etc), not just craft. To find out more information and view a complete schedule of classes, click here.
Beverly Street Studio School
Classes are the core of the Beverley Street Studio School education program. As part of their Community Programs, BSSS is holding “Reading About Art,” a program offered every third Thursday of the month from 12:30-1:30pm for discussion of books about art and artists. For tuition and other information, please call 540-886-8636 or click here.
Big Blue Door
The mission of Big Blue Door is to encourage the sharing of stories with passion, humor, and skill. Learn how to tell your own stories in this six-session course, Telling True Stories starting April 16 from 7:00-9:30pm Tuesday evenings. The early sessions are geared to helping develop a body of story material using exercises, homework, and class discussion, and getting comfortable talking in front of others. Then over the last two sessions you’ll choose one story to polish, memorize, and perform for the class show on May 30. Sessions are at Park School downtown. Cost is $125. To sign up, email bigbluedoor.stories@gmail.com
UVa Cavalier Band Camps
The University of Virginia’s Cavalier Band Camps are offering summer camps for high school and middle school students from July 17-20. Sections for high school students include “Drum Major and Student Leader,” “Marching Percussion,” “Color Guard,” and “Feature Twirler.” There will be a “Middle School Band Camp” from July 13-16 open to all students who have completed at least one year of band. All camps include instruction from UVa faculty and professionals, leadership seminars, a “How To” session with a UVa admissions officer on preparing to apply to universities, and a special culminating performance involving all camp groups on the UVa Grounds.
Charlottesville Parks and Recreation
Charlottesville Parks & Recreation offers a variety of low-cost programming including arts and crafts classes. Scholarships are available for City Residents in need of financial assistance. To download the scholarship rules and application, click here
Charlottesville Trade School
The Charlottesville Trade School offers classes on various topics — sometimes arts-related. Rather than paying for instruction, students sign up to learn new trades by meeting the teacher’s modest barter requests. To learn more about upcoming classes or to suggest one yourself, visit their website or email cvilletradeschool@gmail.com.
City Clay
City Clay offers studios, classes, and gallery exhibits on clay. Completely new to clay? Spend an evening trying out the potter’s wheel and some hand building. No stress, no competition, just some fun with clay. Click here to check out the spring adult and kids classes. Stop by the studio or call 434-293-0808 to sign up for classes.
Crozet Arts
Crozet Arts offers classes and workshops for all ages. Advance registration is required for some, but others are open for drop-ins. To find out more, email to info@crozetarts.org or call 434-964-6770.
Elstudio.pro
Located in Crozet, Elstudio.pro offers sliding scale production services in photography and videography, along with a wide range of classes in both digital and traditional art forms. Scholarships available! For more information, email info@elstudio.pro.
Fingerdance Studio
At Fingerdance Studio, Charlottesville musicians Jay Pun and Morwenna Lasko teach violin, guitar, bass, ear training, and music theory. Lessons are held at The Park School. For more information, please call 434-466-1024.
FIREFISH Gallery
FIREFISH Gallery, located on the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville, hosts a variety of classes for adults, teens, and children. Mosaic lessons teach participants how to create decorative objects of art using rich colors, reflective surfaces and timeless permanence. Tuition costs $75 (includes all materials). To register, please contact the instructor Eileen Butler at 434-242-9759 or issimaart@gmail.com. Another great offering is Mask Making Classes with Sigrid Eilertson. Students will learn about the cultural and therapeutic perspectives of mask making. Participants can work with various materials including paper mache, plaster and leather. No prior art experience required. To sign up, please call (434) 984-1777 or email firefishcville@gmail.com. The tuition costs $35 per individual or $25/person for groups of 3 or more. Please note that there is a $5 materials fee for participants who wish to work with leather. Financial assistance is available. There are also a variety of Mother and Child classes available in printmaking, picture frames, and mixed media.
Flying Pig Art Center
The Flying Pig Art Center in Scottsville offers a variety of low-cost classes and workshops, including drawing and painting as well as jewelry-making. For more information, please call 434-286-2291 or email flyingpigartcenter@gmail.com.
Four County Players
Four County Players offers low-cost theatre classes and workshops for all ages. For additional information about upcoming classes, please contact theatermanager@fourcp.org.
The Glass Palette
The Glass Palette offers glass art technique classes including bead making, fusing, stained glass, silver jewelry making and more. Classes are recommended for high school age students and adults. For more information and a listing of upcoming class offerings, visit The Glass Palette.
Light House
Light House Studio is offering a wealth of filmmaking summer camps for elementary, middle, and high school students. Campers will gain a hands-on survey of the wide world of movie production! Topics include “Introduction to Filmmaking,” “Introduction to Animation,” “Intermediate Filmmaking, “Documentary,” “Advanced Animation,” “Music Video,” and “16mm Film Cinematography.” To save your spot, apply online or call (434) 293-6992.For more information, please visit the website.
Live Arts
Live Arts offers year-round, process-driven educational opportunities for children, teens, and adults. This summer, Live Arts offers “Story Circus Camp” for 4-7 year old children and “Summer Theater INTENSIVES” for youth ages 8-17. To sign up, apply online here. “Story Circus Camp” takes place during July 29-August 2, 9:00am-12:00pm. In this one-week session, kids will play theater games, sing songs, and put together a darling one-act play with actor/director Melissa Charles. This is the perfect way to beat the summer heat, and give your young actor or actress a chance to play at Live Arts! There will be a final performance on August 2 at 11:30am. The class size is limited to 15 students. “Summer Theater INTENSIVES” have several sessions and spots are going quickly and some sessions are already sold out! In Session 1, “Musical Theater Camp” offers two levels: 8-12 years old, or 13-17 years old. This session takes place on June 17-June 28, from 9:30am-3:30pm (there is also an extended day option available from 9:00am – 5:00pm). In Session 2, “Musical Theater Camp” will be offered again from July 8-July 19. This camp specializes in every aspect of Musical Theater including: solo and choral performance, working with an accompanist, dancing and musical choreography, acting, improvisation, and auditioning. In Session 3, Live Arts offers a “Playmakers’ Intensive” with two levels for 8-12 years old, or 13-17 years old during July 22- August 2. Students will develop their own one-act productions from concept to performance. Through master classes in playwriting, acting, blocking, set design and construction, costume design, lighting design, and stage management, young people will work with Live Arts instructors to bring their creative ideas to fruition on the stage! In Session 4, Live Arts offers “From Page To Stage: A One Act Workshop” with two levels: 8-12 years old, or 13-17 years old. This session takes place during August 5-August 9. In this one-week intensive camp, students will work with Live Arts directors to bring two one-act plays to the Live Arts stage. This camp will culminate with a performance of the one-act plays.
Louisa Arts Center
A performance and visual art cultural center, Louisa Arts Center aims to stimulate an appreciation of the arts. In addition to holding exhibitions, theater productions, and lectures, it also offers summer camps for kids. The Louisa Arts Center offer visual art and theater camps for kids, pre-teens, and teens, including “Camp Curtain Call – Theatre Camp,” “Camp Encore – Vocal Music Camp,” and “Camp Imagination – Visual Arts Camp.” Download a registration form here. Tuition costs $50-75 and includes a camp tee-shirt, supplies, and a snack each day.
Kluge-Ruhe Collection
Become an art historian! The Kluge-Ruhe Collection has many objects about which very little is known — help solve the mystery of a painting by participating in the Young Art Historians program! Participants will spend two afternoons at the museum investigating an artwork to produce a detailed description for publication on the museum’s website. Contact kluge-ruhe@virginia.edu by May 31 if interested. Space is limited.
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art features thematic, docent-led tours for students in kindergarten through grade 12 which are structured to encourage close observation, foster an open exchange of ideas, and cultivate connections between art and life. Docents consult closely with teachers to ensure that tours enhance, support, and extend classroom learning and curriculum objectives. Learn how to register your school group for a tour here.
ShenanArts
ShenanArts and The Presbury Theatrical Training Program will once again offer their summer camps. Through theatre games and classroom activities, students will learn important theatre, dance, and vocal technique, and will get to show off their new skills. The intermediate camp is already over half full, and the beginning camp is not far behind. Options include:
-Beginning Camp (rising K-4th graders): DinoStars!
July 8-13, 11:00am-1:00pm
-Intermediate Camp (rising 5th-9th graders): Broadway Beat!
July 8-13, 1:30pm-4:00pm
Tuition costs $65-$75. Please visit www.shenanarts.org to register.
Senior Center
The Senior Center offers a variety of programs and classes to create opportunities for healthy aging in our community. For a full schedule of this month’s events, please click here.
Swing Cville
Swing Cville offers swing dance lessons and dancing every Wednesday night. The first Wednesday of the month is a beginner’s crash course, and every other Wednesday has intermediate lessons at 7:00pm, beginner lessons at 7:45pm, and open dancing afterward. For more information, please contact Mike Herring via info@swingcville.org or (434) 260-0059.
Telegraph Gallery
Telegraph Gallery is a new art gallery just off the Downtown Mall that presents works of emerging artists from contemporary, illustrative, narrative, and pop art fields. Every Sunday, Telegraph will host Sunday Comic Craft Day, a day devoted to comic book and zine-making. Paper, pencils, staplers, and snacks provided. For more information, please visit the website or call (434) 244-3210.
UVa Art Museum
The UVa Art Museum offers Family Art JAMs, a popular series of programs that combines tours with hands-on art activities for youth. Family Art JAMs are offered on both Saturdays and Sundays at the following times: 1-3pm for 5-7 year olds and their grown-ups; 3-5pm for 8-12 year olds and their grown-ups. Reservations are required. The fee is $20 for one adult and 1-2 children plus $5 for each additional child or adult. To register for the Family Art JAM, call 434-243-2050 or email museumoutreach@virginia.edu. The museum is located at 155 Rugby Road, one block from the Rotunda.
Virginia Arts of the Book Center
The Virginia Arts of the Book Center is offers a variety of workshops in letterpress, printmaking, papermaking, and bookbinding. For more details, please click here.
Waynesboro Cultural Commission
The Waynesboro Cultural Commission presents its 2013 Writers’ Series, a program designed to allow writers to explore different literary genres. This year, all of the workshops will include two sessions in order to present more information to writers who attend. The workshops include different fields of writing. There will be an introduction to romance writing in April and an introduction to the personal essay in May. Registration is required. For more information, please call the Wayne Theatre Alliance Office at (540) 943-9999.
WriterHouse
WriterHouse provides a space for writers of all sorts to meet and share their work. They foster a comfortable environment and encourage the development of writers, provide quality writing instruction, and host literary events for the public. This summer, WriterHouse offers multiple sessions of Creative Writing Camp for Kids! Options include “Story Camp” for grades 3-5, “Writing Circle” for grades 6-8, and “Writing Workshop” for grades 9-12. Session I takes place on July 15-19 and Session II takes place on July 22-26. There is a limit of 10 students per age group, per session. Snacks and walks outside will be incorporated into the daily activities. At the end of the writing camp session, there will be a reading for parents and friends. The camp fee includes snacks, a writer’s notebook and one copy of the WriterHouse Camp magazine. All instructors are schoolteachers with creative writing experience. Scholarships are available for low-income students. For more information, please click here.
