Charleston, W.Va. – Today, Governor Patrick Morrisey signed a proclamation declaring Friday, March 21, 2025, as Arts Day in West Virginia during the annual Arts Day at the Legislature celebration. The event, held in the Capitol rotunda, is hosted by the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History (WVDACH) and the State Arts Office and invites arts organizations from across the Mountain State to feature their organizations and raise awareness of the arts in West Virginia.
This year, 55 exhibitors filled the Upper Rotunda with paintings, sculptures, live music, and hands-on art-making activities. Representatives from each region of the state gathered together to celebrate Appalachian art and artisans.
Along with the Arts Day at the Legislature event, the State Arts Office also welcomed over 150 individual artists and arts organizations to Charleston on March 19-20 to participate in the annual Arts in Our Communities Conference hosted at the Culture Center, State Capitol Complex. The two-day event features speakers and breakout sessions on various topics related to networking, social media, grant availability, community projects and more. The conference is designed to highlight and uplift the individuals who make up the arts community across the state.
“It is wonderful to see so many creative people from across West Virginia, all connecting and learning from each other as part of both West Virginia Arts Day and the recent conference. We’re also grateful to the Governor for recognizing West Virginia Arts Day officially through the proclamation,” said Ennis Smith, Acting Cabinet Secretary for the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture, and History.
For more information, contact Jenna Green, State Arts Director for the WVDACH, at Jenna.R.Green@wv.gov or (304) 558-0240.
Image gallery: linked here. Photo credit: West Virginia Legislature
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Proclamation by Governor Patrick Morrisey
Whereas, the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture, and History, the West Virginia State Arts Office, and the West Virginia Commission on the Arts support programs, organizations, and individual artists in all 55 counties; and
Whereas, the arts are the embodiment of all things beautiful and entertaining in the world, the enduring record of human achievement; and
Whereas, the arts enhance every aspect of life in West Virginia, growing our creative economy, enriching our civic life, enhancing tourism, and exerting a profound, positive influence on the education of our children; and
Whereas, support for the arts advances, fosters, and promotes the traditional and contemporary creativity of our residents through music, theatre, literature, dance, and fine arts; and
Whereas, arts education research shows that the arts help to foster discipline, imagination, creativity, self-expression, and problem-solving skills while also helping to develop a heightened appreciation of beauty and cross-cultural understanding; and
Whereas, the arts play a unique and intrinsically valuable role in the lives of our families, our communities, and our state.
Now, Therefore, Be it Resolved that I, Patrick Morrisey, Governor of the Great State of West Virginia, do hereby proclaim March 21, 2025 as:
West Virginia Arts Day
in the Mountain State and encourage all citizens to celebrate and promote the arts and culture in the Mountain State.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of West Virginia to be affixed.
Done at the Capitol, City of Charleston, State of West Virginia this the Twenty-First day of March, in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-Five in the One Hundred and Sixty-Second year of the State.