Community Outreach is a major component of Bridge programming. Through workshops, projects and related events we seek to establish strong ties with communities through out Charlottesville.

Workshops and programs are conducted at The Bridge and partnering locations, making use of collective facilities and available resources.

They may be run by The Bridge and partnering staff, educators, mentors or artists depending upon the nature and duration.

Outreach programs often culminate in an exhibition of related work/s in our space at the conclusion of each session.

In the summer of 2010, The Southwood Youth Photography project completed its third book La Finca | The Farm.

In June 2010, a group of Albermarle County Public School students from Southwood Mobile Home Park were joined by professional photographers, writers and artists for a day-long visit to Maple Hill Farm, located in Scottsville Virginia and operated by the Local Food Hub. The goal of the project was to utilize the mediums of writing and photography to capture the students individual experiences of visiting a working farm.

As in previous workshops, creative partnerships were essential to the success of this program. Charlottesville photographer Billy Hunt and poet John Casteen IV instructed the students in their respective mediums. Generous support was provided by The Local Food Hub and Writer House with support from the Bama Works Fund.

La Finca marks the 5th year of the project and the 3rd book in an on-going series created through the program.

La Finca Community Partners:
Albermarle County Public Schools
The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative
Local Food Hub
Writer House w/ generous support from the Bama Works Fund

Project Coordinators:
Greg Antrim Kelly
Gloria Maria Rockhold

Join us as we celebrate 3 years of creative programming with the youth of Westhaven.

This ONE NIGHT ONLY event will showcase works ranging from painted portraits, audio interviews, murals, video and a handful of ALL NEW WORKS – to be auctioned through out the evening – in support of the Westhaven After School Program.

Please mark your calendars and join us as we celebrate this amazing partnership and raise awareness in support of this vital youth program in Charlottesville.

Come out and support The Bridge!

Live music, the Hamdingers cart, chickens, pit fires, and family fun for all!

Featuring live performances by Jim Waive, The (all new) Acorn Sisters, Keith Morris and The Crooked Numbers, Mister Baby, Pantherburn and more.

All proceeds benefit The Bridge.

Come join us as we celebrate and view works from The Southwood Sandbox Summer Workshops. This one-night-only event will include collages, off stage theatre and photography created by youth in the community of Southwood through the Sandbox Summer Workshops.

Select prints and copies of the new iConnect Southwood Youth Photography book will be available.

Exhibition (in conjunction with the LOOK3 Festival Of The Photograph) through Saturday June 27th

During the Fall of 2008, the iConnect Photography Workshop taught basic digital photography skills to six students between the ages of 11 and 16 and then let them loose. Their goal was to visually record, interpret and generally tell the story of the place where they live, Southwood mobile home park in Charlottesville, Virginia.

This exhibition will showcase select images from El Barrio: The Neighborhood a book created for the iConnect Southwood Project. Copies of the book will be also be on display and for sale as part of this exhibition.

This workshop affords middle and high school students in the community of Westhaven the opportunity to create audio portraits on the theme of influential people in their lives. This project, in celebration of Black History Month, marks our third year working with youth in Westhaven. Click here for images from the past two years.

In a screening co-sponsored by the Charlottesville-Albemarle Health Department, The Bridge PAI will screen a segment of the documentary Unnatural Causes this November, as part of a community awareness campaign regarding health disparities.

Unnatural Causes was produced by California Newsreel in order to draw attention to the root causes of health and illness and to help reframe the debate about health in America, particularly with regard to economic and racial issues. The seven-part documentary series criss-crosses the country, investigating findings that are shaking up our conventional understanding of health. In particular, Episode 2: When the Bough Breaks, specifically addresses how racial disparities affect birth outcomes, which is clearly relevant given recent data on racial health issues here in Charlottesville, especially concerning infant mortality.

The 30-minute video will be followed by an informative discussion, accompanied by handouts and relevant information. This event is free and open to the public.

A team of artists and arts educators from the UVA School of Architecture, The Bridge PAI, and Piedmont Council of the Arts are collaborating on a unique public art project for Charlottesville Parks and Recreation. The PCA-coordinated artist team will repaint an everyday yellow school bus, transforming it into an exciting, kid-friendly vehicle that will be used to transport young people to Parks and Recreation programs throughout the year. Following an extensive design phase this spring, the Fun Bus project involves three main components: hands-on workshops with young people, collaborative bus painting, and a celebratory exhibition at the Bridge.

The Fun Bus design reflects the mission of Parks and Recreation in two ways: it weaves together elements of nature and urban life, and it highlights a young person’s unique perspective of the world. The lead designer is Sanda Iliescu, Associate Professor of Architecture and Art at UVA. Iliescu is working closely with local artists John Bylander, Mike Parisi, and Isabella Scott to implement the design, workshops, and painting processes. The project is coordinated by Maggie Guggenheimer of PCA with support from Greg Kelly of The Bridge and Erica Sims of Charlottesville Parks and Recreation.

The design team led hands-on visual art workshops with Parks and Recreation summer campers during the week of June 30th to involve them in the design process. Workshops explored concepts of measurement and geometry, the natural world, and color theory with campers in grades K-12. Community volunteers assisted with the workshops and will continue to contribute to the project throughout the painting process. Project volunteers from UVA School of Architecture, The Bridge, and PCA include: Christy Baker, Kate Daughdrill, Julia Hauser, Tom Hogge, Debbie Ku, Laura Merricks, Kevin Sullivan, and Linda Weinecoff.

Using the campers’ creative ideas as design determinants, the team will finalize the FUN BUS design during the week of July 7th. A central component will be a visual record of the height of each child who participated in a workshop. The children’s heights will span the lowest horizontal zone of the bus design, creating a grass-like field that evokes the natural world. The height design will also refer to young people as integral components of the bus design and function.

The bus painting process will take place from July 12-17 outside Carver Recreation Center at 223 4th Street NW. The core design team will manage the painting process, working with community volunteers and Parks and Rec campers. Visitors from the community are invited to observe the painting process throughout the week. The Fun Bus will be unveiled to the public during Parks and Recreation’s camp “Fun Day” on Friday, July 18th at Pen and McIntire Parks between 11am-3pm.

To mark the completion of the Fun Bus project, The Bridge will host a weekend exhibit and celebration from August 1-3. The First Friday’s exhibit will be held from 6-8pm on Friday August 1st to show drawings, photographs, studies and ephemera from the project. The exhibit will be on display from 12-3pm daily throughout the weekend.