2025 Annual UVA Arts Welcome Picnic
Come learn about curricular, extra-curricular, programmatic, and volunteer opportunities from the Visual & Performing Arts & Architecture departments, programs, and community.
Stories
-
The Paramount Theater, Fralin Museum of Art at UVA, and Virginia Theatre Festival Join Forces This Spring and Summer to Celebrate Iconic Artist and Cultural Figure Frida Kahlo
-
Meet the Students Behind the Sound: UVA’s Battle of the Bands Winners
-
Finding Her Voice: Priyanka Shetty’s MFA Journey from UVA to the World Stage
-
UVA Alumna Artist is Big into Miniature Artworks
Recent Stories
Showing 12 of 237 stories
Meet the Students Behind the Sound: UVA’s Battle of the Bands Winners
From late-night dorm room jam sessions, a rained-out show and a misheard lyric, Loose Champagne has proven that great things can come from passion and a little bit of luck. The University of Virginia-based band and winners of the University Programs Council’s Battle of the Bands will open Saturday for American rapper and record producer Quavo at John Paul Jones Arena. Doors open at 6 p.m., and entry is free for students with a UVA ID. Tickets are also on sale to the public.
UVA Faculty and Students Perform in Hungary
Led by Program Director Daniel Sender, UVA students and faculty enjoyed a week of immersive cultural activities in Hungary during Spring Break. In addition to historical sightseeing tours, the group engaged with folk music and dance, opera, and Hungarian classical music.
A Conversation With UVA’s A.D. Carson About ‘Being Dope’
The book is part personal narrative, part critique of power structures in America. A.D. Carson is an associate professor of hip-hop and the global South in the University of Virginia’s McIntire Department of Music and a Shannon Center Fellow for Advanced Studies. A member of the UVA faculty since 2017, Carson founded the UVA Rap Lab, a “collaborative hip-hop cypher space” and classroom where students are encouraged to explore their experiences and thoughts through the medium of creating music.
Zines, Light Sticks, and Live Music: Check Out These Upcoming Events at UVA Library
The University of Virginia Library has six locations, an array of cozy study spaces, millions of items available for checkout or browsing, and new resources arriving each day. And did you know we also offer events throughout the year ranging from exhibitions to concerts for UVA and the Charlottesville community? Join us at the Library this spring for craft workshops, writing and editing support, zine tutorials, and live music. All Library events are free. For a full listing of Library events, check out our public calendar.
The Virginia Gentlemen Take on Mexico
The University of Virginia’s oldest collegiate a capella group, the Virginia Gentlemen, traveled to Mexico for five days in January, introducing their music to new audiences. Recognizable in their navy blazers and UVA bow ties, the group regularly engages in cultural exchanges with performances on Grounds and outside of Virginia. In San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, they headlined a performance with the Chorale San Miguel and sang at Centro Educativo Naciones Unidas, an international school.
Celebrating the Life Tessa Ader
The recent passing of historic UVA Arts benefactor Tessa Ader marked the final chapter of a life filled with love, art, a sense of adventure, and a legacy that will enrich the UVA and Charlottesville communities for generations to come. Ader’s historic lead $50 million gift to fund the building of a performing arts center is the largest gift to the arts in the University’s history and will transform the arts landscape by providing a state-of-the-art home for concerts, dance, theater and interdisciplinary art forms.
A Preview of Spring 2026 Arts Events That Offer Something for Everyone
Spring is a time of renewal — more specifically, a time to visit one of Charlottesville’s many offerings to reignite an old artistic passion or explore a new one. The Charlottesville area is home to many affordable arts events, varying from orchestra performances to drag shows. Here are six upcoming arts events in the area from January through March for those looking to get in touch with the creative side of the community.
2026 Folk Marathon Is All About Community
WTJU’s volunteer hosts are curating a Folk music mecca, running February 2 – 9, all to raise money for your favorite non-commercial radio station as it continues to find its footing after federal funding cuts. Your support continues to be more important than ever.
'The Death of Dido: An English Masque’ at The Rotunda 1/18
Originating as a form of festive courtly entertainment in 16th-century Europe, masques contain music, dancing, singing, acting, and allegory. The Death of Dido: An English Masque features an Italianate musical score by Johann Pepusch with an English libretto by Barton Booth, employing the same section of Virgil’s Aeneid as Henry Purcell’s famous 1689 opera Dido and Aeneas. Arias and instrumental music from English theatrical works by Purcell and his contemporaries precede the masque, introducing the audience to the characters and setting the scene for the infamous tale to unfold. Advance registration required. Free, 7:30pm. The Rotunda at UVA, 1826 University Ave. earlymusiccville.org
On Repeat: Modern Film Scores to Romanticize the Start of Your Semester
As friends reunite and the Corner sees life again, it is easy to see Grounds, in its picturesque beauty, as the idealistic setting of an early 2000s rom-com film. The ensuing months will bring on a whirlwind of different emotions and prompt corresponding types of music — but to romanticize your semester to its fullest extent, choose a soundtrack with notes from these striking film scores.
My Book: ‘Being Dope: Hip Hop & Theory Through Mixtape Memoir’ By Dr. A.D. Carson
By now, the phrase “Hip-Hop changed my life” is a well-worn cliché, but that won’t stop me from saying it. I’m from the small Central Illinois town of Decatur. My hometown is one of the sites where the war on drugs and many of its battles took place. In 2018, Decatur was listed at number seven in USA Today’s “15 worst cities for Black Americans” and ranked third nationally in their 2019 “America’s fastest shrinking cities” poll.