Welcome back to VCCA's monthly newsletter focused on keeping Fellows, staff, and supporters connected.

Our new year is off to a strong start with a fantastic group of Fellows newly arrived at Mt. San Angelo to kick off our Winter 2023 residency season in Virginia. Our first application deadline of the year is fast approaching — mark this Sunday, January 15, on your calendar if you're a writer, visual artist, or composer hoping for a VCCA residency in 2023; as always, a variety of fellowships are available, along with significant financial assistance. Plus, we have exciting events on the horizon, both locally and farther afield.

We're still relishing the year just past. The digital version of our FY22 Annual Report is available on our website, and we're excited for you to see it!

It's a pleasure to share the stories of VCCA with this incredible community. Thank you for reading.

In addition to lists of Fellows and donors, we also share stories about our 50th Anniversary Fellowship program, the renewal of an iconic water feature, the meaningful improvements our new dining partner has brought to our residency program, and more. We're so grateful to everyone who makes VCCA possible.

"On December 13, we celebrated the final event of our 2022 season (open studios with Craig Cahoon, Barrie Kaufman, and Elizabeth Greisman) — with refreshments followed by a chili dinner. It was a fun evening with many friends and supporters joining VCCA Fellows and Moulin à Nef staff to celebrate a successful season.

After a break for the holidays we are preparing for our reopening this March. All of the staff at Le Moulin à Nef send their greetings and warm wishes for a wonderful 2023!"

– Cheryl Fortier

Resident Direct, Moulin à Nef

Next Wednesday at Sweet Briar College! Two VCCA Fellows — textile and fiber artist Ruth Jeyaveeran and magazine writer and author Sarah Jones — will present their work to the community in the first VCCA Salon of the Sweet Briar semester.

Date: Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Time: 7:30 - 9 p.m.

Location: Reahard LearningGallery, Cochran Library, Sweet Briar College

VCCA will once again have a presence at the Association of Writers and Writing Program's annual conference, to be held this year in Seattle, March 8–11.

AWP attendees and Seattle locals — we'll hope to see you in the Bookfair at the conference and/or at an off-site gathering open to all Fellows and friends. Stay tuned for more information as March approaches!

During her VCCA residency as the latest recipient of the Alonzo Davis Fellowship, Jaquira Díaz was primarily focused on finishing her debut novel, I am Deliberate, under contract with Algonquin Books.

“I’ve been working on this novel since 2019, and the work I did at VCCA is invaluable,” says Díaz.

“The kind of quiet contemplation that I find at VCCA is rare, and the work I do would not be possible without it. I am so grateful to have received the Alonzo Davis Fellowship, and grateful that VCCA exists. It is truly a magical place.”

Writers, visual artists, and composers interested in Fall 2023 residencies at Mt. San Angelo in Virginia should apply by January 15, 2023. We're proud of the collection of fully-funded fellowships available for this application period, made possible by many generous supporters.

Fellows, share your news. This is a way to tell the VCCA community about your work. We're always especially interested in stories about work created in connection to your VCCA residency.

"This 50-page book, Frances Hynes: The Wanderers, 1994-2001 was recently published by the Yeh Gallery at St. John's University, Queens, NY, on the occasion of my exhibition there in 2021. A number of these paintings were begun, in progress or completed during my residency at VCCA in 1996, soon after the semester I spent teaching at Burren College of Art in County Clare, Ireland, and resident at Tyrone Guthrie Centre in County Monaghan, Ireland."

Locus Amoenus, a new body of work by Janet Bruce, is the first show of 2023 at Les Yeux du Monde. "Janet Bruce’s new work began in the time of isolation brought by Covid, during which she embarked on an extensive, near-obsessive color exploration. 360 color studies emerged from this period, many of which are included in a 160-inch-tall installation in her exhibition at LYDM."

Helen Benedict's recent essay, "Unequal Mercy: How the West Treats Refugees" was published on 22 different magazine sites in the month of December. The essay came out of her recently published book, Map of Hope and Sorrow: Stories of Refugees Trapped in Greece.

Browse our VCCA Fellows page on Bookshop for a wide variety of books by Fellows published since the pandemic.

VCCA Fellows: To tell VCCA about your forthcoming books, send us your news.

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