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Image of the streets of downtown Charlottesville focusing on the Paramount theatre and the string lights on the downtown mall.
Film

The Virginia Film Festival Returns in Full Force This October

As the month of October looms on the horizon, that can only mean one thing for the city of Charlottesville — the Virginia Film Festival is making its return. The 38th annual iteration of one of the eastern seaboard’s most reputable festivals draws cinephiles and industry professionals alike to Charlottesville. From Oct. 22 through Oct. 26, the festival will bring together more than 100 of the year’s best films for an incredible weekend celebrating the cinematic art.

https://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025/09/the-virginia-film-festival-returns-in-full-force-this-october

Four different UVA students hold up their laptops to show the various stickers and art on their laptops.
Visual Art

Peel Back the Layers: UVA Students Express Themselves Through Laptop Stickers

Walk across any college campus and you’ll spot them everywhere: laptops transformed into personal billboards, with screen backs covered in a collage of stickers. Each carefully chosen sticker tells a story, from academic affiliation and club involvements to beloved music, movies and inside jokes shared with friends. UVA Today talked to five University of Virginia students about their laptop sticker collections and discovered the interesting stories behind their sticker choices.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/peel-back-layers-uva-students-express-themselves-through-laptop-stickers

A fake robot hand image is shown playing a keyboard, with a music staff clipart in the background.
Music

Q&A: Will AI Usurp the Desire for Human-Made Music?

Artificial intelligence is everywhere in the music business, whether you recognize it or not. It’s there when you stream – every Spotify recommendation is the product of AI-driven algorithms – and composes music based on its knowledge of previously published works. It’s even breathed new life into long-gone voices of performers like John Lennon.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/qa-will-ai-usurp-desire-human-made-music

A picture of Dr. A.D. Carson standing at a microphone with blue and green lights shining from behind him.
Music

UVA’s Dr. A.D. Carson Challenges Far-Right Watchlists and Media Backlash, Revealing How Hip-Hop Is Scapegoated

Dr. A.D. Carson, Associate Professor of Hip Hop at the University of Virginia and the nation’s only bona fide professor of hip hop, is speaking out about the ongoing scapegoating of rap music in American culture and politics. In recent weeks, Carson’s work and commentary have been featured in HipHopWired, ContrabandCamp, and NBC News, where he addressed both the far-right intimidation he has personally faced and the media’s misrepresentation of hip-hop.

https://mailchi.mp/8aeb03b64fc3/uvas-dr-ad-carson-challenges-far-right-watchlists-and-media-backlash-revealing-how-hip-hop-is-scapegoated?e=e9f0996659

A woodcut of a nude woman with short hair holding a shell in one hand and a scythe-like object in the other. Rays of gold surround her head, and the background is a navy blue sky with gold stars.
Visual Art

UVA Fralin Art Museum Acquires Alison Saar Woodcut Print

On September 3, 2025, The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia (The Fralin/museum) announced the acquisition of a new work by Alison Saar. Mutiny of the Sable Venus (2024) is now on view in the museum’s Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation Entrance Gallery. Based in Los Angeles, Alison Saar (b.1956) is an influential sculptor, mixed-media, and installation artist. Her artwork focuses on the African diaspora and Black female identity. She cites African, Caribbean, and Latin American folk art, rituals, and spirituality as influences.

https://www.seegreatart.art/uva-fralin-art-museum-acquires-alison-saar-woodcut-print/

A photo from the back of a lecture where we can see black leather chairs in rows, and the backs of the guests' heads.
Architecture

Buildings and Grounds Committee Approves Design Proposal for Center for the Arts

The Board of Visitors Buildings and Grounds Committee approved the schematic design plan for the new Center for the Arts, which is planned to be completed in fall 2029. The Committee also heard a construction report from Donald Sundgren, vice president of facilities management and chief facilities officer, in which he discussed updates on projects such as the Karsh Institute of Democracy, student housing in the Emmet Ivy Corridor and the Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology.

https://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025/09/buildings-and-grounds-committee-approves-design-proposal-for-center-for-the-arts

A large brick building with huge windows down the entire wall, with a small body of water in front of the building and outdoor seating within the nature.

BOV Approves Design for New UVA Center for the Arts

A home for the arts is taking shape on Grounds. The Board of Visitors Buildings and Grounds Committee on Thursday approved the schematic design for the proposed Center for the Arts in the University of Virginia’s development parcel on Ivy Road, sending it to the full board. The board on Friday likewise approved the design.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/bov-approves-design-new-uva-center-arts

A black background with a woman with outstretched arms performing on the left side, and the text "the 434 initiative: $4.34 tickets to any performance" on the right.
Drama

The 434 Initiative

Live Arts is proud to announce the launch of The 434 Initiative, a bold new effort designed to welcome a new generation of theater lovers into the heart of Charlottesville’s vibrant performing arts scene. Rooted in the belief that theater should be accessible to all, The 434 Initiative offers $4.34 tickets to anyone 25 or younger—or anyone who has never been to a Live Arts production before.

https://livearts.org/show/434/

Gallery Image in Welcome Gallery with people walking around

Charlottesville Area Arts Council Planning Project Announces Steering Committee Members

A broad cross-section of artists, cultural workers, and community leaders has been selected to serve on the Steering Committee for the Charlottesville Area Arts Council planning project. The Steering Committee will guide the community-driven process to explore the creation of a future Arts Council for the Charlottesville area. Their role is to provide insight, ensure broad community perspectives are represented, and co-create recommendations for how a future Arts Council can equitably serve the city’s diverse arts and culture ecosystem. The committee members were chosen from a pool of 59 applications submitted by local artists, organizers, educators, administrators, and community supporters.

September 23, 2025
Close up image of Chet'la Sebree smiling at the camera.
Creative Writing

Writer Chet’la Sebree on Poetry and Chronic Illness

Chet’la Sebree is the author of Blue Opening, a poetry collection published earlier this month, as well as Field Study, winner of the 2020 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets, and other work. She is an assistant professor at George Washington University and teaches in Randolph College’s low-residency MFA program. She spoke to C-VILLE about her new book, its themes of chronic illness and the body, and what it’s like to care for self and others in this moment.

https://c-ville.com/writer-chetla-sebree-on-poetry-and-chronic-illness/

A room with textured wooden-slat walls has a padded nook in the wall for sitting. The lights are a purple/pink hue.
Architecture

UVA Architecture Students Create Humpback Rock-Inspired Retreat

If you can’t go to the mountain to relax, just bring the mountain to you. University of Virginia architecture students and assistant professor Katie Stranix have created a Humpback Rock-inspired reflection room in Student Health and Wellness to offer students a little respite.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/uva-architecture-students-create-humpback-rock-inspired-retreat

A poster board with the colorful letters of the alphabet is propped up in front of a bookshelf filled with books.
Creative Writing

Exploring the ABCs of the UVA Library

A library is home to a host of books, yes, but also artifacts, objects and even movies. The University of Virginia Library’s collection is no different. It contains everything from the earliest printed materials to the Tibetan Book of the Dead to student-made advertisements for something called the “experimental university.” These items, along with roughly 200 others, will be on display for a yearlong exhibition, “The ABCs of the UVA Library,” hosted in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, as well as the Shannon, Clemons, Fiske Kimball Fine Arts, and Charles L. Brown Science & Engineering libraries. The exhibition opens Wednesday, two days after Leo Lo, the new University librarian and dean of libraries, steps into his role.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/exploring-abcs-uva-library