ABOUT VAE RALEIGH

Read VAE Raleigh’s 2020-2024 Strategic Plan

OUR VISION
VAE envisions a more equitable creative community where everyone has the resources needed to thrive.

OUR MISSION
VAE produces, funds, and exhibits socially-engaged art through community collaboration.

OUR CORE VALUES

- Art has a proven track record of being a powerful tool for creating positive social change. This power is often better understood by the opponents of progressive social change than the artists who are doing the work.

- The person closest to the problem is also the person closest to the solution. The barrier is often in the number of resources available to that person. 

- VAE turns over its resources of a knowledgeable staff, space, community standing, access to artists, and funding in an open source way to support community-led and creative solutions.

- Transparency is key to building trust.

- VAE’s open source artistic process allows us to work WITH our community instead of FOR our community. This process creates the most authentic work possible.

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION
VAE Raleigh is a nonprofit community cultural arts organization. VAE was founded by a small group of dedicated artists in 1980. Though our name has changed and the organization has grown, VAE stays true to its core goal of developing a vibrant, equitable, and well-resourced creative community.

VAE supports artists by providing:

  • a platform to showcase their work

  • educational resources to expand their creative careers

  • funding for their most ambitious ideas

  • and connections to the resources needed to thrive

Thank you to our grantors!

VAE Raleigh is funded in part by the City of Raleigh based on recommendations of the Raleigh Arts Commission.

VAE Raleigh is supported by the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County as well as the N.C. Arts Council,
a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

VAE Raleigh was supported by the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources,
with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.