Welcome Gallery is Closed for Construction
As a disabled artist, Jess Walters (New City Arts Staff) has experienced barriers to arts participation. Their 2023-2024 Virginia Health Equity & Justice Fellowship focused on arts spaces like Welcome Gallery, where events and exhibits are free to attend but a portion of the space (i.e. our bathroom) is physically inaccessible to community members.
Following 18 months of design, fundraising, and planning, we're closing Welcome Gallery this month in between exhibitions to make our bathroom accessible to visitors who use wheelchairs. This project is generously supported by Jess Walters through their Virginia Health Equity & Justice Fellowship, Building Goodness Foundation, brwarchitects, Martin Horn, Architectural Hardware of VA, DMA Floors, Johnston & Co., and Dunbar. These renovation plans include design recommendations to improve bathroom accessibility from a longtime Welcome Gallery visitor who is a wheelchair user.
Adrian Wood’s exhibition at Welcome Gallery (2024)
Catch construction updates here and over on Instagram during August's gallery closure. Find us back in person during Charlottesville's First Friday Art Walk in September when we'll debut our completed, accessible bathroom; celebrate Welcome Gallery's 10th birthday; and share work created by this year's Fellowship cohort.
🗓️ Key Dates →
· Aug 1-31: Welcome Gallery closed*
· Aug 10: Tomato art due
· Aug 20: Exhibit apps due
· Aug 25: Steering Committee apps due
· Aug 26: Tomato Tomato Fest Art Show
· Sept 5: First Fridays at Welcome Gallery
*New City Arts offices are closed for Summer Break the first full week of August. Following this time off, staff will work remotely during regular office hours (9-5, M-F) while Welcome Gallery is under construction in August.
