WHO WE SUPPORT
Our services and funding keep our arts organizations healthy today, but also look to the future, as several of our member organizations showcase the artistic talents of our community’s children and young adults. Many of our member art groups are volunteer run and rely solely on the generosity of caring individuals and businesses throughout our community.
Charleston Ballet
The Charleston Ballet is West Virginia’s official state ballet, and has been performing for audiences local and across the state since 1956. Founded by Andre Van Damme, the premiere danseur etoile for the Brussels Royal Opera, the Charleston Ballet is dedicated to bringing quality dance programming to its audiences and artists.
Since its founding, the Charleston Ballet has performed over 175 original works and much of the classical ballet repertoire. Audiences have been treated to folk- and world-inspired dances, neo-classical works, and classically inspired pieces from both local and guest choreographers. The ballet also regularly collaborates with local businesses, organizations, and festivals to bring dance to new audiences and events.
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Charleston Chamber Music Society
The Charleston Chamber Music Society is an organization that is committed to bringing world class chamber music ensembles to the people of the Greater Kanawha Valley and surrounding areas. Chamber music is an intimate musical form involving a small number of performers and recently has become known as ‘music among friends’
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Charleston Civic Chorus
The Charleston Civic Chorus has been bringing world-class choral music, gifted local singers, and appreciative audiences together for nearly 70 years. Founded in 1952, and with its first
performance on May 14 of that year, CCC will be celebrating its 70 th anniversary with our Spring 2022 concert also performed on May 14, exactly 70 years after our premiere performance.
Presenting engaging concerts in the beautiful Charleston Baptist Temple Sanctuary, the Chorus provides the greater Charleston community with compelling performances of new music by some of today’s most celebrated composers such as Ola Gjeilo, Eriks Esenvalds, Michael McGlynn,
Dan Forrest, Jake Runestad, Elaine Hagenberg, and Eric Whitacre.
The Chorus is composed of some of the regions finest choral singers. Each volunteers their time on Tuesday evenings to prepare a fall and spring concert each year. CCC also regularly collaborates with other arts groups in the region. In a spirit of community and giving, the chorus members finding joy in bringing beautiful choral music to life with like-minded musicians while enhancing the cultural landscape of the Charleston area as they share their artistry with every appreciative audience.
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Charleston Light Opera Guild
Charleston Light Opera Guild (CLOG) is a community theatre organization founded in 1949 that strives to entertain, excite and inspire audiences with high quality musical theatre offered at an affordable price. The group presents 4-5 productions per year that represent a variety and diversity of shows and themes in various venues from the intimate Charleston Light Opera Guild Theatre to larger spaces at the Little Theatre at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center and the Maier Performance Hall at the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences West Virginia.
All cast members are volunteers and are selected in open auditions by the show directors and a casting committee. The organization is governed by a volunteer board of directors elected by the Guild’s membership. Shows are selected by the board with respect to membership and the artistic director’s suggestions. Over 200 different singers, actors, dancers, and orchestra members volunteer their talents annually. Many others volunteer behind the scenes. CLOG has produced over 250 operettas and musicals that vary from intimate to cutting-edge to classics. Many working professionals, including Jennifer Garner, Kathy Mattea, Ann Magnuson, Rebecca Robbins, Joe Chrest and Billy Breed, honed their skills on the Guild stage. CLOG and its show directors have won numerous awards.
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CHARLESTON LIGHT OPERA GUILD WEBSITE OR FACEBOOK LINK BELOW:
Children's Theater Of Charleston
Children’s Theatre of Charleston (CTOC) is a non-profit organization designated as the Official West Virginia Children’s Theatre. CTOC serves and enriches our community by inspiring young people through the art of theater. Over their 89 seasons thousands of children and adults have participated in Children’s Theatre Productions. Whether you’re still in school or young at heart, CTOC has a place for you.
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Clay Center/Avampato Discovery Museum
The Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences of West Virginia is a not-for-profit cultural institution with the mission to inspire creativity, life-long learning, and wonder through experiences in the arts and sciences for all people of West Virginia and the region. Located in the state’s capital of Charleston, the Center is a 240,000 square foot structure that houses the performing arts, visual arts, and sciences under one roof – one of the few of its kind in the country – and features the Avampato Discovery Museum, Juliet Art Museum, Caperton Planetarium and Theater, 1,889-seat Maier Performance Hall, as well as the flexible black box Walker Theater. In late 2015, following twelve years of operation, the Clay Center embarked on a multi-year Museum Renewal Campaign to replace existing interactives in the Discovery Museum and create more than 16,000 square feet of hands-on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematic) exhibits, as well as establish an exhibit renewal endowment to preserve those displays fo future generations. The new exhibits include My Town, a child-sized recreation of a town;
WaterWorks, an exploration into the power of water as well as its potential, mechanical, and kinetic energy; Ashton’s Climbing Sculpture, an interactive sculpture that poses a physical challenge; Maier Foundation Music Studio, an examination of the scientific foundations of music and the mathematical concepts of rhythm, pattern, and harmony; and Healthy Me, an investigation into body systems and how a healthy lifestyle reduces the risk of health problems later in life. Additionally, the Juliet Art Museum was remodeled to add the Suddenlink by Altice Interactive Art Space, a family friendly art area centered around the basic elements of color, color theory, and digital illustrations.
The Clay Center is privileged to present informative and inspirational content to an average of 100,000 guests on-site each year and thousands more through social media outlets. Additionally, the Clay Center works alongside counties throughout the state to offer equal opportunities for engagement with the museum’s many resources for WV K-12 students.
Moving forward, the Center is committed to increasing its educational efficiency, reaching new audiences, and better serving guests of all ages through meaningful experiences in the arts and sciences.
As Al Najjar, the Clay Center’s President & CEO, states, “The Clay Center is about enriching education and quality of life for West Virginians; it is a place where families can gather, and artists can show off their crafts and share their creativity. It is a point of pride in our community.”
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CHARLESTON LIGHT OPERA GUILD WEBSITE OR FACEBOOK LINK BELOW:
FRIENDS OF OLD TIME MUSIC AND DANCE (FOOTMAD)
Kanawha Valley Friends of Old Time Music and Dance (FOOTMAD) is a non-profit, volunteer supported organization whose mission is to present, promote and preserve traditional music and dance in the Charleston, WV area. Active in the
area since 1981, FOOTMAD offers an annual concert series featuring traditional music from near and far. FOOTMAD sponsors monthly dances, welcoming persons of all skill levels to participate. FOOTMAD provides traditional music and dance opportunities in a variety of settings throughout the area.
FOOTMAD is proud of school based educational initiatives, featuring both concerts and hands-on activities with groups from other cultures. Collaboration with other arts and community groups is an integral part of FOOTMAD, with a goal of maximizing arts opportunities across the Charleston area. Most of all, FOOTMAD is fun!
River City Youth Ballet Ensemble
The River City Youth Ballet (RCYB) is the official youth ballet of West Virginia. RCYB provides a high-quality dance education to hundreds of area students from 3 years and up. River City Youth Ballet Ensemble strives to be a place to develop artistic ability and to further the mind to excel not only in dance but also in life.
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West Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Founded in 1939, the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra (WVSO), West Virginia’s premier source of professional orchestral music, serves a multi-generational audience of about 40,000 a year. As West Virginia’s largest performing arts organization the WVSO administers programs that reach rural, underserved, and low-income communities.
Every season typically includes 6 Symphonic and 4 Pops performances, The Nutcracker performances with The Charleston Ballet, a performance with the West Virginia Symphony Chorus, and a free, public performance in June, MATRIC Symphony Sunday, that draws 8,000 people. Educational programs include touring Young People’s Concerts, chamber ensembles that perform in schools, an experiential learning project for high school and college students, and a partnership with a public-school system in which WVSO educators and musicians teach free string lessons to nearly 350 students a year. The WVSO's mission is to make great music to enrich and inspire everyone in our region.
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West Virginia Youth Symphony
The West Virginia Youth Symphony was founded in 1949. Each year, about 125 young musicians participate, making it both the largest and the oldest youth orchestra in the state. Students come from as far away as Ohio to rehearse weekly in Charleston. Ages range from 7 to 20, and students from 36 public and private schools, plus college and home-school, are making music together each week.
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womanSong
womanSong chorale of West Virginia is the only all-female community choir in West Virginia. womanSong brings local female singers together in a community that shares a commitment to excellence in musicianship and a passion for performing. Under the direction of Jeanette Bowlby, womanSong incorporates traditional, classical, contemporary, and multicultural styles of music into concert repertoire and highlights works by female composers.
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WOMAN SONG WEBSITE OR FACEBOOK LINK BELOW:
Address:
803 Quarrier Street, Suite 100 Charleston, West Virginia 25301
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