We provide young people from across the Richmond area the freedom to express themselves creatively and transform our community with their artwork, stories, and lives.
Richmond’s youth has a voice.
Bold. Creative. Strong.
But without accessible access to artistic workshops and programming made to strengthen them, these voices can go unheard. We aim to bridge the gap between need and accessibility.
ART 180 serves the Greater Richmond area by providing a space, free of judgment, that encourages creative self-expression while developing local young creators and promoting them through exhibitions, performances, public art, publications, and more.
By pairing best practices in youth development with trained local artists, ART 180 works to develop thoughtful and insightful workshops to not simply fulfill a need for art programs after school but to help young people in the community discover their own unique and important voices.
Our Core Values
WE BELIEVE IN YOUNG PEOPLE
Each young person is a valuable part of our community. We promise to offer a supportive and nurturing environment, which allows our young people an opportunity to bring into being the beauty that exists within their creative spirits.
WE BELIEVE IN CREATIVE EXPRESSION
Everyone will be free to be an artist who can give birth to a masterpiece, because we recognize that innovation is the heartbeat of growth.
WE BELIEVE IN COMMUNICATION
We seek to provoke ideas and stimulate conversation that encourages self-awareness and expression of diverse perspectives, remove barriers of fear, create a better understanding of humanity, and illuminate hope.
WE BELIEVE IN COMMUNITY
We value the importance of collaborative relationships, which celebrate diversity. We recognize that by sharing together we're capable of making even greater creative contributions that can enhance the well-being and quality of life for the whole.
WE BELIEVE IN COMPASSION
We advocate kindness to heal division and resolve conflicts, because everyone has a right to be heard, to experience love, and to be treated with dignity and mutual respect.
WE BELIEVE IN CHANGE
We embrace change as a gift that empowers young people to transform our world through creative expression. It provides opportunities to be passionately engaged in a natural process of learning, challenging complacency and discovering opportunities to live a meaningful life.
HOW WE OPERATE
ART 180 partners with other nonprofit organizations to serve youth, ages 8 to 18, living in challenging circumstances in Richmond, Virginia. We also operate an art center for teens, called Atlas, in the Arts & Cultural District.
In addition to the programs at Atlas, ART 180 staff and our Teen Leadership Council operate and manage a community gallery that showcases a rotating set of exhibitions targeting or featuring work by youth.