The Visual Arts Center of Richmond has received a $40,000 grant from The Community Foundation Serving Richmond & Central Virginia.

The grant will support VisArts’ youth outreach programming, which includes Art After School, A Space of Her Own, Engage and Profits in Creativity. During the 2014-15 school year, VisArts provided arts education programs, free-of-charge, to 2,500 K-12 students from across the city.

“We are so pleased that The Community Foundation is renewing their longtime investment in our youth outreach programs,” said Stefanie Fedor, executive director of the Visual Arts Center of Richmond. “Children who participate in arts programs are better creative and critical thinkers and exhibit increased academic achievement.”

In 2014-15, more than 1,900 school children visited the Visual Arts Center of Richmond for gallery talks and workshops as part of VisArts’ Engage program. Art After School served 550 children in collaboration with community partners such as Richmond Public Schools, Peter Paul Development Center and the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Richmond. And 12 sixth-grade girls from Anna Julia Cooper Episcopal School participated in the arts mentoring program, A Space of Her Own.