We support and facilitate exchange programs that bring communities and artists together to explore shared traditions and values. We engage in cultural exchange projects at the local, regional, and international levels.

CCV collaborates with a broad range of local, statewide, national, and international organizations to create diverse and impactful artistic exchange and cross-cultural connections. With partnerships that extend from small neighborhood associations to the US State Department, CCV hosts cultural exchange activities with tradition-bearers to help communities better understand and appreciate one another’s culture—addressing barriers to connection, regardless of whether they live across the world from one another or on the same city block.

In CCV-sponsored cultural exchanges, participating artists and tradition-bearers engage deeply in one another’s cultural expressions and participate in a wide range of programs for the public including concerts, collaborative recording projects, and workshops and educational programs in schools, museums, places of worship and other cultural institutions. Audio, video, and photographic documentation of these cultural exchanges are widely accessible to the greater public through CCV’s online media channels now and for generations to come.

From left to right, Joe Troop, Larry Bellorín, Danny Knicely, Mario “Cesar” Oretea, Jose Oretea, and Ralph Gordon in the "Bridging Borders" workshop on the Center for Cultural Vibrancy Virginia Folklife stage at the Richmond Folk Festival on 10/8/22. Photo credit: Pat Jarrett/Virginia Folklife Program.

Africa to Appalachia to the Emerald Isle

What an amazing time we had in Ireland! CCV returned to the Clifden Arts Festival in beautiful Connemara, this time accompanying From Africa to Appalachia, a musical project that delves into…

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Champe-Soukous Collective: A Musical Homecoming

In just a few days, CCV heads to Colombia for a project that has been decades in the making: an Afro-Colombian musical homecoming for a newly formed all-star group, The…

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The Unbelievable Artistry of Baltimore Crankie Fest

That’s a wrap! The 2023 Baltimore Crankie Fest came and went and in its wake, nearly 1,000 audience members from around the world were moved and thrilled by the hand-scrolled…

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We started a nonprofit: 2022 in review

That’s a wrap! 2022. What a year here at the Center for Cultural Vibrancy! 2022 was CCV’s first FULL year in existence. We’ve been busy defining who we are now…

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Virtual Field Trips: World Culture in Context

Launched by CCV in late 2020 in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, World Culture in Context (WCC) takes students on a virtual field trip by connecting them with community…

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