I’ve just been accepted for a residency at VCCA! Last year when I applied, I was wait-listed. Then, when Sheila Pleasants at VCCA called to invite me to come during either of two sudden cancellation times, I couldn’t accept because I’d scheduled school jobs and travel during those weeks. No other cancellation times opened up for my available weeks during the fall period (October, 2009- January, 2010), so I needed to reapply. Happily, I just found out that I’ve been offered a fellowship there for two weeks, mid-January, 2011.
Here’s a link to a page on the VCCA web site that describes the nature of the experience of being a Fellow there:
http://www.vcca.com/main/vcca-fellows
VCCA sent me a PDF press release which I’ve been able to translate into text and have pasted below:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 27, 2010
154 SAN ANGELO DRIVE AMHERST, VIRGINIA 24521
P. 434.946.7236
WWW.VCCA.COM
FOR INFORMATION
Lexie Boris
Communications Director
434-946-7236
lboris@vcca.com
http://www.vcca.com
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts
154 San Angelo Drive
Amherst, Virginia 24521
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Penny Harter awarded VCCA Fellowship
One of 25 Fellows in residence at a time
VCCA one of world’s most prestigious artist communities
Penny Harter Awarded Fellowship by the VCCA
(Amherst, VA) Penny Harter of Mays Landing, NJ, has been awarded a fellowship by the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA). The VCCA is located near Sweet Briar College in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in rural Virginia. Penny Harter will be among the approximately 25 Fellows focusing on their own creative projects at this working retreat for visual artists, writers and composers.
A typical residency ranges from two weeks to two months. Each artist is provided with a comfortable private bedroom, a private studio and three prepared meals a day. Beyond the breakfast hour and the dinner hour, there are no schedules or obligations. This distraction-free atmosphere, as well as the energy that results from having some 25 visual artists, writers, and composers gathered in one place, enables artists to be highly productive.
Serving more than 350 artists a year (more than 4,000 since its inception), the VCCA is one of the nation’s largest year-round artists’ communities. VCCA Fellows have received worldwide attention through publications, exhibitions, compositions, performances, and major awards and accolades, including MacArthur grants, Pulitzer Prizes, Guggenheim fellowships, National Endowment for the Arts awards, Rome Prizes, Pollock-Krasner grants, National Book Awards, Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, and Academy Award nominations.
VCCA has been a wellspring of music, literature and the visual arts in the United States, providing residencies for artists from all disciplines during the most important and the least supported phase of their work: the creative phase. This is done by giving visual artists, writers, composers, performance artists, filmmakers, collaborating artists and those whose work crosses disciplines the crucial elements every artist needs: time and space to do their work.
A nonprofit organization founded in 1971, the VCCA is supported in large part by grants and private donations.
