Visual Arts Exchange

Programs: Community eventsvae produces sparkcon, a creativity festival in downtown raleigh that showcases the talents of over 2,000 artists, designers, musicians, dancers, chefs, comedians and many more creative individuals in over 200 showcases over 4 days each year. This event has approximately 84,000 attendees.

exhibitionsvae mounts over 70 exhibitions each year, displaying the work of more than 1,600 contemporary artists. The organization hosts approximately 8 main gallery exhibitions focused on highlighting the creative contributions of people who are often marginalized from the contemporary art world. The organization hosts 6 annual exhibits in the lab and cube galleries which are focused on collaborative and experimental installations. The organization hosts solo and group exhibitions in seven community venues across the triangle, showcasing the work of local and emerging artists.

education and outreachvae offers a suite of educational programming for artists, including lectures, workshops, critiques, one-on-one mentoring opportunities, and hands-on learning experiences. They keystone of vae's educational programming is an annual summit that focuses on the most relevant issues facing the creative community.

fiscal sponsorship programvae offers funding directly to creative individuals through small grants, stipends, and the organization's fiscal sponsorship program. Vae is the local chapter of the awesome foundation, a global community of micro-funders committed to making their communities more awesome by providing $1,000 for creative ideas each month. Vae also awards artist grants and exhibitions stipends to support their creative careers. Vae's fiscal sponsorship program is a granting program in which the organization sponsors individual artists and unincorporated artists groups and assists with managing the fiscal aspects of their projects. The organization is responsible for collecting funds restricted to the project and disbursing them in accordance with the project's approved guidelines.