VI Council on the Arts

📢 UPDATE:
Need to reach the Virgin Islands Council on the Arts?
For questions, assistance, program information, or general inquiries,.
We’re here to help and look forward to hearing from you!

🎨 Ready to Apply for VICA Funding?

The Virgin Islands Council on the Arts is here to help! Join one of our mandatory 2026 Grant Application Workshops and learn everything you need to successfully complete your application.

-Understand the grant application process
-Learn what reviewers look for
-Get tips to strengthen your proposal
-Ask questions and receive guidance
-Submit with confidence

Workshop Schedule

📍 July 9, 2026 @ 5:30 p.m.
St. Croix – Dorsch Cultural Center

📍 July 22, 2026 @ 5:30 p.m.
St. Thomas – Virgin Islands Council on the Arts

📍 August 6, 2026 @ 5:30 p.m.
St. Thomas – Virgin Islands Council on the Arts

📍 August 20, 2026 @ 5:30 p.m.
St. Croix – Dorsch Cultural Center

Whether you're an individual artist, nonprofit organization, educator, or community group, these workshops are designed to help you navigate the application process and position your project for success.

Please select the date you are planning to attend a How To Apply Workshop below !
https://forms.gle/ZQ12vutgUVAa3j748

📞 340-714-0244
📧 [email protected]
🌐 vicouncilonarts.org

📢 UPDATE: Need to reach the Virgin Islands Council on the Arts?

For questions, assistance, program information, or general inquiries, please contact us at 340-714-0244 or [email protected].

We’re here to help and look forward to hearing from you!

As part of a broader effort to reimagine how the Virgin Islands of the United States visually represents itself, Three Islands Media was commissioned through its director, Chalana Brown, to photograph the cover of the Virgin Islands phone book. The initiative reflected a growing desire to center the people, traditions, and cultural memory of the territory rather than relying solely on tourist-facing imagery.

Photographed at the Whim Museum on St. Croix were cultural bearers Eldred “Edgie” Christian and Gilbert “Gilly” Hendricks,both longstanding stewards of Quelbe music through the Ten Sleepless Knights. Since the creation of the photograph, Edgie has passed, transforming the image into both documentation and memorial.

The setting of the photograph carries its own historical gravity. The Whim Museum, preserved within the landscape of a former plantation estate, holds layered stories of African endurance, labor, subjugation, humor, artistry, and survival. Within those grounds, the photograph connected living Virgin Islands traditions to the historical spaces where Afro-Caribbean communities preserved culture despite colonial violence and economic exploitation.

The image also arrived during an important period of public recognition for the Ten Sleepless Knights, whose members have since been honored through legislation designating a space in Limpricht Park in their name. For decades, the group has safeguarded Quelbe, the national music of the Virgin Islands, carrying forward a tradition rooted in oral storytelling, satire, community gathering, and the lived experiences of Crucian people.

Through this commission, the photograph became part of a larger cultural archive. It documented artists whose work helped preserve Virgin Islands identity across generations while asserting that the territory’s image should be shaped by the people who continue to carry its memory, sound, and stories forward.

💛💙

DPNR INVITES COMMUNITY TO VIRTUAL TOWN HALL MEETINGS
ON THE FUTURE OF FORT CHRISTIAN AND FORT FREDERIK MUSEUMS
https://dpnr.vi.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/DLAM-TOWN-HALL-MEETINGS.pdf

The VI Council on the Arts is taking a fresh and futuristic approach to sharing timeless cultural traditions. The agency hosted a multisensory exhibit that blended digital media, sound design, storytelling and the visual arts to showcase Caribbean culture. Learn more: https://nasaa-arts.org/newsletter/2026-nasaa-notes-issues/may-2026-nasaa-notes/virgin-islands-multisensory-exhibition-experience/