VCCA Fellow Katherine Min knew from a young age that she wanted to be a fiction writer.  She began by telling colorful lies on the playground in elementary school and writing an illustrated picaresque novel at age twelve.  After majoring in English at Amherst College and marrying her classmate Roy Andrews, she attended Columbia Journalism School and worked as a journalist in Boston and Seoul, Korea. She never stopped writing fiction, even as she moved to New Hampshire, worked at the alumni magazine and as an adjunct professor at Plymouth State University, and raised two kids, Kayla and Clay Min Andrews. Min began publishing in literary journals such as Ploughshares , Prairie Schooner , Glimmer Train , TriQuarterly , The Threepenny  Review , and many others.  She received a National Endowment for the Arts grant in 1992, a Pushcart Prize for her story "Courting a Monk" in 1998, and a New Hampshire State Council for the Arts Fellowship in 1998 and 2004. In 1999, her sh...

VCCA Fellows in 1987 Every Fellow has a story to tell, from a thought-provoking conversation over lunch to a life-changing approach to your practice, we want to hear your VCCA memories and how the magic of Mt. San Angelo and Moulin à Nef has impacted your career. As VCCA approaches its 50th anniversary (May 2021), we are collecting "experience stories" from VCCA Fellows. Our goal is to gather stories that will not only record the history of VCCA but also enlighten and enrich the experience of future Fellows. We are ready to listen to your story now. Visit our online form to share your memories today.

We regret to announce the passing of William E. Smart, founding director of the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA). Obituaries for Mr. Smart have been posted by Sweet Briar College and the Amherst New Era Progress . 
 Mr. Smart helped bring VCCA to its current location at Mt. San Angelo and served as director for over two decades. VCCA's stature as an internationally recognized artists' retreat that provides time and space to hundreds of artists each year is due in part to his vision and tenacity. 
 Two memorial services have been announced. Mr. Smart's son, Paul Smart, is organizing a service in April to take place in the Bronx. Any friends or VCCA Fellows who may be interested in speaking or performing at the Bronx memorial are asked to contact Paul directly . 
 New York Memorial Service for Bill Smart  Saturday, April 27 at 3 p.m. Vladick Hall 74 Van Cortland Park South The Bronx, New York City 
 Parking is limited. Public transport option...

This week, our Friday Fellow, Michelle La Perrière, shares her recent process in her own words. In this day and age of the KonMari Method , it seems that I would be embarrassed about the boxes of old school papers I had shipped from my childhood home in Denver to where I live now, Baltimore after my mom died in 2010. They’ve been stored in the attic since then, and a couple weeks before my residency, in my efforts to declutter and get rid of things that “don’t spark joy,” I opened them up. I knew there would be some old Seventeen Magazines , English papers from Mr. Keinon’s 11 th grade English class… “love” letters from friends, written in Mrs. Johnson’s 9th-grade typing class, but I didn’t remember the math papers. What the… You see, I flunked geometry in 9 th grade and had to take it in high school. But really, going back further, I first became math anxious in Mrs. Kotnik’s fourth-grade class when we had to do timed multiplication and division quizzes every week. I f...

VCCA is seeking a VCCA Fellow to be in residence at VCCA from February 1, 2019 – May 31, 2019, to serve as emergency on-call personnel for this residential community of twenty-five artists. The Fellow must have previously been in residence at VCCA. The Fellow would be expected to become part of the community and would be free to pursue personal creative work when not actively engaged in work responsibilities. The Fellow may be requested from time to time to attend monthly staff meetings. Applicants should be comfortable working in an artists community setting and able to respond to emergency requests as needed throughout a 24-hour period. The Resident Fellow would be provided three prepared meals each day and accommodations in Cottage A, which has kitchen facilities and a shared bath. This live-work space would best accommodate a writer, photographer, or composer working with a keyboard and headphones. As part of the Resident Fellow experience, the Fellow would be expect...