ArtsFairfax’s $601,900 in new operating support grants exceeds last year’s support by $10,000 and will aid organizations in all nine county magisterial districts plus the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church.
The organization announced its fiscal year 2027 grant awards on Thursday (Aug. 13). A total of 65 local arts groups will receive funds, up from 56 a year ago. Four organizations were first-time recipients.
Since opening in October 2021, Capital One Hall has drawn an array of nationally recognized musical and comedy acts, Broadway shows and even a circus to Tysons, but the performing arts venue has also opened doors for many local community and nonprofit artists.
Thanks to a Community Arts Partnership with ArtsFairfax, Fairfax County’s official arts agency, Capital One Hall (7750 Capital One Tower Road) has hosted 48 local nonprofits so far have collectively drawn more than 61,000 attendees and generated $2.4 million in ticket revenue, officials shared at a July 14 reception celebrating the collaboration’s first five seasons.
ArtsFairfax is planning a series of exhibitions to showcase local artists around Fairfax County.
The “ArtsFairfax Presents” initiative was developed after a survey commissioned by the local arts agency last year revealed that, for many artists working in Fairfax County, finding affordable and appropriate spaces to showcase their work can be a challenge.
Support for the arts can take different forms, as evidenced by the honorees who will take center stage this fall at the 2026 ArtsFairfax Awards.
ArtsFairfax announced earlier this month that this year’s recipients of the annual awards will be longtime McLean Project for the Arts (MPA) donor and board member Bruce Berlage, Reston community leaders Karen and Jim Cleveland, the Southeast Fairfax Development Corporation and D.C.-area singer, conductor and composer Thomas Beveridge.
As the calendar flips to April, organizers around Fairfax County are prepared to celebrate National Poetry Month.
With the support of ArtsFairfax, Fairfax County Poet Laureate Angelique Palmer is launching a “Poetry &” initiative that will bring a handful of events to the county throughout the month, with some starting as soon as next week.
Fairfax City is in the running to be ranked among the nation’s best small town arts scenes.
USA Today’s panel of independent editors nominated Fairfax for Best Small Town Arts Scene in its 10Best awards. There are 20 communities across the U.S. nominated in the category, including Abingdon in Southwest Virginia.
A new art installation has been unveiled at Springfield Town Center.
The gallery wall, which opened last week through a collaboration between the mall and ArtsFairfax, features seven works from a handful of local artists.
A boutique dedicated to the oeuvre of an Iranian American painter, sculptor, and printmaker will host its grand opening in Reston Town Center next month (Nov. 9) from 3 to 5 p.m.
Nasser Ovissi, a former diplomat and cultural attaché under Iran’s former Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, settled in Reston in the 1980s, opening a studio that has since become an artist collective.
October will give local residents the chance to “fall into the arts” with artoberVA, a month-long celebration of the arts across Fairfax County.
A collaboration between ArtsFairfax and CultureWorks, the initiative will present a number of free events coupled with discount offers from local artists and arts organizations across Fairfax County and the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church.
Fairfax County is on the lookout for local artists who can add “community charm” to the bus stations for The One, the bus rapid transit (BRT) system planned for Richmond Highway (Route 1).
The county’s Department of Planning and Development (DPD) has partnered with ArtsFairfax to identify artists to decorate the station windscreens with digital art.
