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Coco Ahn:

You’re listening to WTJU Charlottesville.The Fralin Museum of Art is celebrating its 90th anniversary with a soiree on November 7, from 6 to 11pm, featuring great food, performance, music and interactive activities. For Arts This Week, we spoke with Director of the Fralin, Karen Milbourne, to learn more about the event.

Karen Milbourne:

Hello, my name is Karen Milbourne, and I am the J. Sanford Miller Family Director of The Fralin Museum of Art at UVA. This year, 2025, is the 90th anniversary of the Fralin Museum of Art. It’s really such an interesting story, because the Fralin was created by Edith Bailey Tiffany, and she donated the funds to have a museum made in memory of her father. It was designed actually by then dean of the A School, of the School of Architecture. So Edmund Campbell built the Fralin but it’s founded in this moment of a recognition of the power of the arts and a recognition of the power of innovation and creativity and technology. So this really is a celebration of all of that history that we all share and what we can build together for the next 90 years. This party is going to be exactly that. It is going to be a party. Charlottesville has this extraordinary creative community. I mean, I’m sitting here in the studios of WTJU, we have all the folks who engage with this space. And then if you think about Second Street, Les Yeux du Monde, Living Arts. I mean, all across our region, there’s just extraordinary talent, and this is an opportunity for all of us to come together. When you arrive, you’re going to have great company, but you’re also going to see some original commissions by Annie Timoch, a local artist who creates wearable art. It’s going to be worn by dancers from Charlottesville. Then we’re also going to have an amazing immersive installation honoring our honoree, our awardee, Rodney McMillan, who is an internationally recognized artist, a UVA alum, and he is going to be there in person. Even his award has been designed and created by Glass Hollow, by Min Martin, a local artist. So everyone who’s been involved is a part of our creative community, and they’re all coming together. It’s going to be gorgeous, artistic, and the food is going to be fabulous. We’re going to have dumplings from around the world. There’s going to be a bourbon smash bar so you can make your own bourbon cocktail. They’re going to be oysters and champagne. There’s going to be a dance floor. There’s even going to be a walkway that is a walk through time that will show some of the photographs, including, like the original ones when that Bailey building was being constructed, interesting photographs from our 90 year history. And then, of course, it’s all taking place in Merrie Mill, which is an amazing local vineyard. And that’s, of course, something that we’re all known for in this region. But in particular, the Merrie Mill takes to heart the idea of creativity in the arts. It’s part of how they design their labels. It’s part of how they think about their space, and they’re being a really wonderful supporter of this event. It’s an interesting question, thinking about the role of a museum in an arts community and within a community writ large, within sort of an arts ecosystem, as I like to think of it, all ships rise with the tide. I don’t think we should be competing with one another, nor do I think we all do the same thing. So galleries support the sales production of artworks. Spaces like McGuffey support the make your space. And then we have things like the museum itself, where it’s a place to preserve that history. It’s a place to bring people together for often their first encounters. Because we are free, we make the art available to everyone. We really try to think very hard about how to diversify, expand and grow our collection, how to engage people on every level, whether it’s to make art themselves, to write about art through our amazing writer’s eye program, to engage with a sound bath and just have a healing moment. There’s so many ways that the arts touch us. And really, for me, a museum is not walls. It’s a space where we engage in and come together around the power of art. For me, museums are portals. They’re a space in which individuals and communities come together and histories. How do we think across time? But there are opportunities to think about how Haiti is connected to Benin, how Sudan is connected to the United States. I mean, there’s so many ways of thinking about how we are all connected, be it at the individual level or at the cultural level. The museum in the past had the Bailey ball, and this was organized by our amazing volunteer board, and really became a legend, and as I understand, it was really the launching point for the opera gala and other amazing events around town. We no longer do annual balls or galas, so this is a once every five year event. So this is celebrating our 90th anniversary, but it’s five years until we’re going to do this again. So it really is an amazing opportunity to enjoy something that you’re not going to get to enjoy something for a while. It is a fundraiser to help support the museum. But again, if you think about the fact that we’re asking it only once every five years, it’s worth it. So the theme of the Fralin’s 90th Soiree is “Living Art.” And the reason for this is we all live with art. It’s a part of everything that we do, and it’s also recognition of the fact that art itself is alive. It has its own power. It has its own creativity. So we’ll have Annie Timoch making wearable art. We’ll have opportunities for you to make art yourself. You yourself can be a work of art. The dress code is, come as you art. Tickets are available at Fralin 90. So that’s the number ninety.eventbrite.com.

Coco Ahn:

The Fralin Museum of Art at UVA is celebrating 90 years on Friday, November 7, with a cocktail at 6pm and after party from 8 till 11pm. The event is themed “Living Art” and will bring together creatives in the community museum supporters and an art enthusiasts for a night of connection, creativity and celebration. Arts This Week is supported by the UVA Arts Council and Piedmont Virginia Community College. PVCC Arts presents a rich array of dance, music, theater, and visual arts programming. Learn more@pvcc.edu. For Arts This Week, this is Coco Ahn. You’re listening to WTJU.