Core Programs
A 1-2-3 SUMMARY!
The Arts Council of the Valley is ONE organization with TWO locations and
THREE Core Initiatives: Performing Arts, Visual Arts, and Education
Performing Arts Programming | Located in the heart of downtown Harrisonburg, Court Square Theater is the performing arts branch of the Arts Council of the Valley. Court Square Theater seats up to 260 guests in a comfortable stadium auditorium with unobstructed sight lines. It also offers special amenities such as digital sound and projection. Court Square Theater presents a slate of cultural programs, including live music and theater, as well as foreign and independent films. No other theater in the area brings together the rich diversity of the arts community in a special venue that overwhelms you with the size of its world, not the size of its popcorn. Our films will amaze you with the number of awards they’ve won, not the number of screens they’re on. Have a creative idea you’d like to see on stage? You’re in luck. Court Square Theater also may be rented for special events and meetings.
Visual Arts Programming. | The historic Smith House, located at 311 S. Main Street, is home to the ACV’s Darrin-McHone Art Gallery, which features a new exhibition each month. Additionally, for many years the ACV has partnered with many businesses to host Harrisonburg’s First Fridays Downtown season. This monthly celebration of culture and community runs from April through October.
Educational Programming: Regranting and Support. | The ACV believes that arts education should last a lifetime, and that core value remains at the center of all its re-granting initiatives. Each year funds are awarded to organizations and artists working in the visual, performing, and literary arts. Since 2001, more than $295,000 has been re-granted to support community-based cultural projects in the Harrisonburg-Rockingham area.
Further, the ACV can offer guidance and assistance to small or emerging arts organizations during transitional periods. For example, the ACV has acted as an incubator for a number of community organizations and events. The ACV has provided support for the Shenandoah Valley Watercolor Society, the Harrisonburg Children’s Museum (now the Explore More Discovery Museum), the Valley Fourth celebration, and the Harrisonburg International Festival. In 2010, the ACV began assisting the Write-Brained Network and the Shenandoah Writers.