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“All Artists are alike. They dream of doing something that’s more social, more collaborative, and more real than art.”

- Dan Graham

AT A GLANCE; The Bridge is a small-scale non-profit arts organization housed in a 1200 sq. ft, brick building on the corner of Graves and Monticello in the neighborhood of Belmont, just south of downtown Charlottesville. As one local put it: “That big brick of chocolate adorned with a silver ribbon of smoke.”

AT HEART; We strive to be an accessible and dynamic venue for the exploration of the creative process, supporting the work of emerging artists, young and old, and working to actively dissolve social barriers, and bring people together through collaborative practices and programming in the arts.

But don’t take our word for it. Here’s what others have had to say:

The Bridge: one of the few groups in town that tries or can claim to connect C’ville’s subcultures across lines of race and class. Ambitious, integrated, civic, creative, subversive, sweet-tempered, optimistic, innovative, brave, ecumenical, inclusive. That’s what I see.

-John Casteen IV

The place (site, space)
for experimental work (smart, fun, interesting, fresh, open)
and community events (people, giggling, talking in real, informal ways)
that is creating (incubating, hatching, fostering) a nascent scene. Has more potential than any other arts venue in Cville.

-Johanna Drucker

kindly benevolent green purveyors of art and culture
only tofu shorts on the block
birthplace of the FaceMuscles
inclined towards broken windows
whiteman rising up against the whiteman
great place to be stoned and watch art movies
killler popcorn

-Matthew Clarke

The Bridge has a heart
that beats erratically
Art in fits and starts

-Laura Parsons

Enthusiasm
growing a community
lighting up our town
arrows are pointing
piercing resistances
knowing they will come
flowers are budding
the blooms have yet to arrive
waiting they drink air

-Asha Greer

non-profit hamlet
bridge or gap? being or not?
stop why-ing. now– how. work.

-John Gibson

the bridge is people and color and events and momentum. more than anything, it is momentum.how else could ink drawings and projections, david, pema, style wars, albie, avant-garde film, dance parties, screenprinting, punk rock, and giraffes all occupy the same space? the bridge is like a childhood home. bb guns and soccer balls. flickering images on the darkened walls. dream forts in the corner. i feel like a bunch of us grew up there - a childhood home of sorts, with the acknowledged magic that suggests that at any moment a fog machine might start up, or a secret passageway might be found in the former sand room. it is pressing your nose to the cold glass windows, smelling hamdingers outside, being too hot or too cold depending on where you are in the room: it is ragamuffins and royalty. but i haven’t spent quality time there in awhile. seems like it’s more professional than handmade these days, which can be good - just don’t stop allowing loveliness to flourish within those walls. [but really, i don’t think any of you guys would know how to kill that magic even if you tried.

-Sarah Lawson