Overview:

The Louisa Arts Center, a non-profit organization, created for and dedicated to the cultural enrichment of all citizens, is the cultural hub of Louisa County and Central Virginia.

The Louisa Arts Center provides the finest quality visual and performing arts, and arts education through the Purcell Gallery, Cooke-Haley Theater, and its classrooms.

Cooke-Haley Theater programming includes a diverse mix of music, dance, and theatrical groups that bring Bluegrass and Country, Jazz and Big Band, Celtic and Roots Music, Rock and Roll, and movies to Louisa.

The Purcell Gallery host’s six exhibits each year featuring the art work of individual artists and group shows.

Our classrooms provide Theater and Art Camps for Kids, and workshops for adults and children.

History and Mission:

The Louisa Arts Center shares its facility with the Louisa Town Hall. The building was once the Louisa High School-Louisa Grade School.

The Louisa High School-Louisa Grade School educated children of Louisa for 80 years, from 1907 to 1987.

The original school structure was a one-story four room building built in 1907 and expanded in 1910 with the addition of a second floor and a one-story auditorium/theater wing to the rear. A 7000 square foot annex was added in the 1960’s creating four more classrooms and a cafeteria. (The annex was demolished in early 2004.) The school was vacated in the 1980’s and remained vacant.

The original structure and the auditorium are constructed of granite walls with plaster on lath interior walls. The building features large windows, 14-foot ceilings with original tin panels and crown molding, wood panel doors with glass transoms and an impressive stair with carved wood newel posts.

In 2004, the renovation began to create a new home for the Louisa Town Hall, and the creation of the Louisa Arts Center.

In 2006, the Louisa Arts Center opened with the dedication of the Purcell Gallery. The Purcell Gallery features art exhibits of local and regional artists with 6 shows per year, each running for two months.

The Cooke-Haley Theater completed its renovation in 2007. The venue is a 200 seat, state-of-the-art facility hosting up to 14 performances each season.

Enrich, Enhance, Inspire

The mission of the Louisa Arts Center is to stimulate awareness and appreciation of the arts through education and advocacy, quality exhibitions, theater productions, lectures, studio classes and workshops for both children and adults. The aim is to broaden involvement and access to the arts, to improve the livelihoods of artists and their opportunity to contribute to community life, and to strengthen diversity, interpretive ability and interactive creativity of all involved.

The goals of the Louisa Arts Center are:

• To support excellence in the Arts

• To maintain accessibility of to Arts to all residents, regardless of race, age, gender, income, disability, geographic isolation or social barrier

• To maintain Cultural Diversity through the Arts that we celebrate the diverse cultures of the world

• To support Arts Education as an outlet for creativity, stimulating and inspiring individual expression for all ages and levels of experience

Learn more at www.louisaarts.org

For more information and ad rates please contact Leslie Bielanski at 434.409.8827 or via e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it