Arts This Week: Let There Be Light at PVCC
By Sage Tanguay
Date: 12/13/2024
Time: 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Photo courtesy of Will May
Coco Ahn 00:04
You’re listening to WTJU, Charlottesville. The Piedmont Virginia Community College will hold its 17th annual “Let There Be Light” outdoor art exhibition on Friday, December 13 the from 6 to 9pm on the Main Campus for Arts. This week, we spoke to Fenella Belle, who is Chairperson of the Visual and Performing Art Department and is overseeing the event.
Fenella Belle 00:24
My name is Fenella Belle, and I’m the chairperson of Visual and Performing Arts at Piedmont Virginia Community College Art Department, and I’ve been in this role for about three and a half years. “Let There Be Light is my favorite event of the year in Charlottesville. And I don’t say that just because, at the moment I’m running it. I’ve been an artist as part of it before. It is happening this year on Friday, December 13th. It runs from 6 until 9pm, one night only, if it rains that night, we’ll do it the following day, which is Saturday, December 14th, again, from 6 to 9pm.
Coco Ahn 00:34
What is the significance of light as we enter this darker time of year?
Fenella Belle 00:55
It is an event that was created to sort of celebrate the darkest time of the year as the winter solstice is approaching, and we are all sort of inclined to hibernate a little bit and go indoors and sort of not be outside at night. And so the creators Barry Sola and James Yates, decided it would be a great moment to create an event that celebrates light and community and get the whole community outdoors, experiencing light centered artwork and performances as a community and celebrating, sort of our inner light at the moment of darkness. Traditionally, this time of year has been a time when it’s both gotten cold and also dark. And so traditionally, human beings all tend to sort of hibernate and go into hiding a little bit. And one of the things that I think we miss when we do that is connection with other people, other community members. And so this event was created as a gift to the community of Charlottesville to create a space and a place where you are guaranteed to bump into people you know, bump into strangers who are now new friends, experience wonder and magic, get free hot chocolate, and really just kind of celebrate that being in the dark isn’t something to be scared of. Being in the dark is something that we all share, and light and dark are part of the same thing, and we need both of them.
Coco Ahn 01:32
How does light feature this experience?
Fenella Belle 01:34
We have anywhere between 14 and 18 installations from year to year. This year, we’ll have a performance with dancers by Emily Wright and Cumulus Dance Company, who will do a performance a few times throughout the evening that incorporates light in some way, shape or form. There will be sculptures that are created that incorporate light. There may be some sculptures that also incorporate sound and music. Some of them are interactive. Some of them are just wander around and look and see. The one thing that’s guaranteed with everything that you see there is it’ll be unique and completely new to you. So “Let There Be Light” is the best free family event in the evening. Kids have so much fun at it. We lend you a flashlight if you don’t have a flashlight. The whole campus lights are turned off, so it’s very dark outside. We’ve lit all the pathways with candles, and you grab your flashlight. You follow the candles, you follow the pathway. We give you a map, and you just discover weird, cool, interesting art, and decide with your friends what you like and what you don’t like, and sort of just have fun.
Coco Ahn 03:26
What is something that people can look forward to this year?
Fenella Belle 03:28
So every year, I both invite and also people approach me who are interested in being part of the event. We have a lot of people who participate year to year, but also we have a number of new artists who approach us. We started last year something special, which is the People’s Choice Award. So most of the artists, they do this as a gift to the community. They’re not paid. They just do it out of the kindness of their heart and for fun. And last year, we started a way for people to vote on their favorite artwork of the evening, and then we give a small award to that one artist who wins that award, and they vote by taking a glow in the dark bracelet and putting it on top of a stake. So the People’s Choice award becomes a new artwork at the same time as the evening goes on.
Coco Ahn 04:09
The “Let There Be Light” outdoor art exhibition will be held on Friday, December 13th from 6 to 9pm on the grounds by the V. Earl Dickinson building on the PVCC Main Campus in Charlottesville. More information is available at cvillelight.org and you can also go to Piedmont Virginia’s website.
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 at pvcc.edu
