Virginia Arts Festival
The Virginia Arts Festival is an annual spring festival that brings dozens of performances to Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, and surrounding communities. The festival was established in 1997, and has been bringing world-class artists to Virginia ever since. The festival is a non-profit organization created by the city of Norfolk, Virginia as an incentive to promote tourism to the Hampton Roads area.[1] Every spring, renowned artists from around the world congregate in Hampton Roads to bring world-class music, dance, and theatre performances to the area.[1]
Artists
Every year, the Virginia Arts Festival sponsors events promoting gifted artists and an educational focus to the region. The festival welcomes a diverse selection of artistic talent through the mediums of ballet, classical music, Caribbean and Reggae music, interpretative dance, jazz music, country music, rock music, sketch comedy groups, and more. One of the annual highlights of the festival is the Virginia International Tattoo.[2] The Virginia International Tattoo is a ceremonial performance of military music and showcases "more than 850 performers from around the world in an awe-inspiring presentation of music and might."[2] The Tattoo has become an internationally known event, and draws national and international audiences.[2]
The following are some of the events and artists who have performed or have been involved with past Festivals:
- Ruth Brown
- Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
- Reduced Shakespeare Company
- Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
- Pilobolus (dance company)
- Virginia International Tattoo
- Joann Falletta
- Virginia Annual Beer Festival
- Joanne Shenandoah
- James Moody
- Sandy Duncan
- The Guthrie Theatre
- Van Cliburn
- The Russian National Ballet
- The monks of the Drepung Monastery
- Dale Chihuly
- Kelli O'Hara
- Bela Fleck
- Jake Runestad
- Liza Minnelli
- Birmingham Royal Ballet
- Alisa Weilerstein
- Anoushka Shankar
- Republic of Korea Traditional Army Band
- Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Education
The Virginia Arts Festival is dedicatied to the cultural education of the region. The Virginia Arts Festival WorldClass Education Program, The Rhythm Project, and John Duffy Composers Institute are all programs sponsored by the Virginia Arts Festival. Through the Virginia Arts Festival WorldClass Education Program, Hampton Roads and Southeastern Virginia students benefit by learning from today's great performers and artists through matinees, in-school performances, in-school workshops, and master classes.
The Rhythm Project is a percussion ensemble for talented young artists and it serves fourth through twelfth grade students from the Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach areas.
The John Duffy Composers Institute was founded by the festival in 2005. It is dedicated to the creation of new music by providing young composers the opportunity to create new work and to hear their work performed by professionals. Noted visiting faculty from the 2010 Institute were Libby Larsen, Fred Ho, Ricky Ian Gordon, and Mark Campbell.[2]
Sponsorship
The Virginia Arts Festival is a non-profit organization. The VAF operates solely by donations and grants. Corporate sponsors include American Airlines, Bank of America, Norfolk Southern, Suntrust, The Dalis Foundation, WHRO, and other private businesses from around the region. Individual donations from patrons and volunteers also make up a healthy portion of VAF’s annual income.
References
- 1 2 http://www2.timesdispatch.com/entertainment/2010/apr/15/w-arts15_20100414-190610-ar-159869/
- 1 2 3 4 , additional text.