FCA celebrates 30 years of creativity and community
Executive Director Keela Dooley-Marshall said "sustainability is key" in planning the future of the Center, noting that officials are working on a master site plan, preparing to go solar, and launching a new endowment to "secure the future" of the barn.
The Floyd Center for the Arts celebrated its journey of becoming an art destination Saturday evening with a gathering inside the renovated dairy barn.
Throughout the past 30 years, FCA has had many dedicated leaders and volunteers, numerous loyal and passionate teachers, and countless eager students that have helped it evolve into what it is today: an incubator for creativity and community.
The Center started to form in 1995 when a group of activists banded together to save the Old Jacksonville Barn, a dairy barn that was functional until the 1940s. The facility was in poor shape after decades of deterioration, but improvements started soon after the group got involved. Nonprofit status was achieved in 1996, and the facility became known as the Jacksonville Center for the Arts until 2016 when it became The Floyd Center for the Arts.
At the celebration on Saturday, guests enjoyed hors d'oeuvres from Maples Restaurant (and Head Chef Mickey G), a bar cart (which featured a signature cocktail for the evening called the Hayloft Highball), a wine cart with a variety of selections, and music from South 40.
Troika Crafts is Southwest Virginia’s premier showcase of local and regional fine craft. Find us at 203 S. Locust Street in The Station.
Learn more www.troikacrafts.com.
There was also a silent auction, which raised money for the Center and its programming, that featured jewelry, floral arrangements, framed paintings, fiber art, pottery, barn quilt art, and more. Heart Media, which was also a sponsor of the event, hosted a photo booth for guests to use to commemorate the special anniversary.
Executive Director Keela Dooley-Marshall said it was “really great” to see volunteers, former executive directors, and board members who have supported the Center for decades mingling with newer supporters that are now getting really involved with the Center.
“It truly has been a great night at the barn,” Dooley-Marshall said.
Hubbard 1 Productions drone services.
Above what you expect in real estate, construction, and aerial photography of all kinds.
Many attendees spoke to the growth of the Center during recent years, under the leadership of Dooley-Marshall, who graduated from Auburn High School in Riner. She went on to receive her Master of Fine Arts Degree in Texas, becoming a sculptor and metalsmith, and worked in the Art Department of Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, before joining the FCA team in 2022.
With Dooley-Marshall at the helm, one of the most popular additions to FCA offerings has been the Floyd Living Traditions Festival, which has taken place every August for the past three years.