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Experiences

Virginia Tech students in a School of Performing Arts lighting design class meet with members of Lightwire Theater to learn tricks of the trade. A white woman with shoulder length blonde hair holds a light-up flower puppet and explains her creative process to three students and a professor.

Enhance Your Experience

Beyond the stage and galleries, we offer opportunities for people of all ages to expand cultural awareness and deepen understanding through the arts. These events—many of which are free—illustrate how learning, engagement, and discovery are at the heart of our mission.

Participate in events tailored for different ages and abilities, like:

  • workshops with visiting artists
  • activities in schools and with local organizations
  • lectures and Q&As
  • master classes
  • hands-on experiences
  • community celebrations
  • and much more

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How Artist Residencies Help Shape the Virginia Tech Experience

For college students, learning from professional artists isn’t just about art — it’s about cultivating creativity, problem-solving, and adaptability that translate to any field. The Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech's visual arts residency program gives students a rare opportunity to work side-by-side with renowned artists, offering an inside look at the artistic process and a hands-on learning experience unlike any other.

Internationally renowned artist Yanira Collado participated in a two-week residency during the spring 2023 semester, working side-by-side with Virginia Tech students to create several site-specific works to be included in her Moss Arts Center exhibition, Zafa/ A Spellworking of Temporal Geometry. Over 100 students from the College of Architecture, Arts, and Design assisted with the project, constructing and arranging plywood structures, gathering materials, and papering platform surfaces, inscribing them with quilting patterns from around the world.

More importantly, the students got a front-row seat to a professional artist's creative process. They watched Collado work, observing her techniques and approach, as well as her conceptual development and collaboration style.

Following the success of Collado's visit, developing a residency program seemed like a perfect next step for the center's exhibitions program. 

"Most of the time, when students encounter an arts exhibition, everything looks perfect and polished and installed. The artists being here — creating the works, interacting with the students in real time, creating pieces that are unique to the center — shows them how this comes together."

— Brian Holcome, Center for the Arts curator

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    Children enjoy collaborative art projects during an open house at the Moss Arts Center.
    PK-12 Programs

    A critical part of a child’s PK-12 education, arts experiences cultivate empathy, expand world views, create human connections, and enhance creative problem-solving skills.

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    Virginia Tech students, three young Black women in casual clothes, belt it out during a free Broadway karaoke event in the Cube at the Moss Arts Center.
    Virginia Tech Students

    We bring world-class artists and performers to campus and host a huge variety of events each year. Student engagement is at the heart of our programming.

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    Virginia Tech students visit the Moss Arts Center galleries as a class. In the center, a middle aged Native woman in a yellow shirt discusses a sculptural piece on display.
    Virginia Tech Faculty and Staff

    If you’re looking for ways to boost your syllabus, revitalize your programs, and create exceptional learning experiences for your students, consider collaborating with us.

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    Community members, a man and a woman, dance during a free outdoor concert by Puerto Rican band Plena Libre at the Moss Arts Center under a blue sky.
    Community

    The Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech brings arts to the community and lifts up and invites people to examine the beauty, complexity, and diversity of our world.

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    A member of the Itraab Arabic Music Ensemble, a young woman with curly brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and wearing a black dress, performs during the ensemble's spring 2024 concert at the Moss Arts Center.
    Itraab Music Ensemble

    A project of Center for the Arts, Itraab is an ensemble of Virginia Tech students, faculty, and community members who learn and perform music from across Southwest Asia, North and East Africa, and Gulf regions.

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    A vibrant palatte of paint
    "In the Moment: Artists and Their Work"

    Celebrating and elevating our local and regional artists, this online talk series provides an opportunity to meet notable creators of Southwest Virginia. 

BANDALOOP teaches students how to soar

Did you know that during their trips to Blacksburg, many of our visiting artists participate in a full roster of outreach activities? Take a peek behind the scenes at some of these events!

Performers with BANDALOOP worked with dancers from Virginia Tech and Radford University on the principles of dancing on vertical surfaces while suspended from above in a vertical dance workshop offered by the center.

Monuments by Craig Walsh

An ethereal, site-specific outdoor projection installation by artist Craig Walsh, Monuments celebrated unsung community members who impact the New River Valley region.

Upending traditional expectations of public monuments and the selective history represented in our public spaces, these unforgettable images projected onto towering trees demonstrated the profound importance of individuals from our community.

Meet the Monuments