Partners

The Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA), home to Live Arts, Light House Studio, and Second Street Gallery, is a hub for performing and visual arts in downtown Charlottesville. Check out what’s new with our friends at Light House and Second Street to learn about the variety of incredible arts education opportunities available under our roof.

The Front Porch is a nonprofit dedicated to connecting everyone through music. It began in the home of local educator Emily Morrison in 2015, and soon found its home on East Water Street, a block from Live Arts. More than 200 people come to The Front Porch each week to take classes. Weekly jam programs, which are free to the public, draw a diverse crowd of participants. The Front Porch also hosts a wide array of performers who offer workshops and concerts in its intimate listening room.

Friends of Cville Downtown is a non-profit organization made up of local businesses, restaurants, and organizations dedicated to creating a supportive and cohesive network on the Downtown Mall. Get to know our neighbors!

The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative is located down the block in Vault Virginia. The Bridge builds, strengthens, and supports creative connections by providing financial resources, workspaces, and collaborative opportunities to empower the greater Charlottesville community. It envisions a vibrant, accessible arts community that improves cultural, social, environmental, and economic possibilities for our creative world.

Live Arts began an artistic collaboration with The Breath Project in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd. In May 2022, Breath Project playwright Derek J. Snow premiered his new work, SILAS, THE INVISIBLE, during our inaugural WATERWORKS festival. The Breath Project seeks to build a more equitable theater community and to actively dismantle structural racism in American theater. In partnership with organizations and artists across the nation, it creates, develops, and supports original theatrical works by BIPOC artists. 

Launched on January 19, 2017 on the eve of the presidential inauguration, The Ghostlight Project is a call for theaters, arts communities, and individuals to step up their social justice work. Participants like Live Arts made a pledge to stand for and protect the values of inclusion, participation, and compassion for everyone—regardless of race, class, religion, country of origin, immigration status, (dis)ability, age, gender identity, or sexual orientation.