VCUarts to Break Ground on CoStar Center for Arts and Innovation

How can virtual reality and 3D animation help advance medical care? What role can sculpture play in fostering dialogue about migration and pollution? What can the interface between dance, choreography, and advanced technology teach us about our relationship with machines at the dawn of artificial intelligence? How can student theater productions contribute to a better understanding of identity and history against the backdrop of racial discourse?

These are a few of the questions that faculty and students at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts ask and address each day.

VCUarts is a top-ranked art and design school within a pioneering public research institution in Richmond, Virginia. Our faculty and students share a passion for exploring contemporary issues through creative research and practice.

We offer one of the nation’s most immersive experiences in arts education driven by inquiry, collaboration, and community. And we’re investing in tools and resources to make that journey transformative.

This fall, we will break ground on the CoStar Center for Arts and Innovation, one of the most extensive publicly funded arts education facilities in the nation. The 213,000-square-foot multidisciplinary complex will be an invaluable resource for the VCUarts community, offering a variety of programming and performance spaces with activities ranging from opera to quantum computing and integrating the disciplines of cinema, theater, immersive media technology, gaming, and the creation of new knowledge.

The facility is made possible by a historic partnership with an $18 million investment from CoStar Group and support from the state legislature and arts benefactors.

We also welcome back one of our most notable alumni, artist Loie Hollowell, for a solo exhibition. Hollowell will also participate in our VCUarts Lecture Series.

There has never been a better time to be a part of VCUarts. Undergraduate and graduate applications are now open.

A few upcoming dates of note for prospective students: