Alexandria city staff is moving forward with plans to transition the Torpedo Factory Art Center to a new governance structure, with three organizations responding to a recently issued Request for Information (RFI).
Deputy City Manager Emily Baker provided this update to City Council during Tuesday’s legislative meeting, outlining progress on implementing recommendations from a stakeholder task force that worked on the issue in 2022 and 2023.
Summer in Alexandria is set to sizzle with an eclectic mix of festivals, cultural celebrations, and vibrant community gatherings, as Visit Alexandria unveiled today (May 8) a packed schedule designed to draw residents and visitors alike.
From early June through August, Alexandria will host everything from the 8th Annual Alexandria Pride Fair and Juneteenth commemorations to the ALX Jazz Fest on the waterfront, alongside the return of popular events like Alexandria Restaurant Week and the Old Town Arts & Crafts Fair, promising a season full of diverse experiences.
The City of Alexandria is seeking information from qualified organizations interested in potentially managing the Torpedo Factory Art Center (105 N. Union St.), a move officials emphasize does not signal changes to the waterfront landmark’s artistic mission.
The city recently issued a Request for Information (RFI) to identify entities with the experience and interest in possibly operating the art center in the future. The RFI, which closes May 16, 2025, is not a formal proposal solicitation but rather a preliminary step to gauge market interest.
A new gallery on display this month at the Del Ray Artisans Gallery (2704 Mount Vernon Avenue) explores the risks and opportunities new technology like machine learning pose for artists.
The exhibit “Artificial or Intelligence?” explores the impact AI trends are having on artists. That impact has, by and large, been almost entirely negative, with image generating software stealing from the work of human artists, but the gallery offers that exhibit viewers should draw their own conclusions.
Break out your platform shoes and bell-bottoms, because the Torpedo Factory Art Center (105 N. Union Street) is throwing a 1970’s-themed party for its 50th birthday.
Every year, an estimated half-million people visit the former munitions plant-turned art center along the Alexandria waterfront for art shows, parties and to bookend a genuine Old Town experience.
A new mural is coming to the exterior of the Torpedo Factory Art Center.
The new mural, mixing abstract elements with American Dogwood flowers, is set to be installed on the Union Street-facing loading dock later this month.
After briefly shutting down a City Council meeting earlier this month, a group of pro-Palestine residents protested a gala headlined by Sen. Tim Kaine in Old Town.
Outside of the Alexandria Democratic Committee’s fundraiser gala at the Torpedo Factory Art Center Wednesday night, members of Alexandria for Palestinian Human Rights chanted for lawmakers inside to publicly support a ceasefire resolution in Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas.
Here’s a roundup of all the events, live music, and entertainment happening around Alexandria this weekend; enjoy!
Are you organizing an event? Submit events to ALXnow.
A task force recommended to the City Council at a meeting last week that the Torpedo Factory Art Center (TFAC) be converted (item 9) to a “quasi-public entity.”
According to a presentation, the task force said:
This weekend marks the 105th anniversary of the Alexandria Torpedo Factory’s ironic origins.
As told in the Office of Historic Alexandria’s This Week in Historic Alexandria newsletter, the contract for constructing the U.S. Naval Torpedo Station was awarded on Oct. 14, 1918. The United States was embroiled in the First World War, but work on the building wouldn’t begin until the day after the war ended.
Virginia Tech and Alexandria’s Office of the Arts are collaborating on “Innovation and Creativity,” a year-long series of projects at the Torpedo Factory’s Target Gallery.
One of those projects, Sound Horizons, opened Aug. 5 and runs through to Jan. 28. Visitors sit in the tesseract, an array of high-density loudspeakers, and experience an immersive environment of sounds curated for Alexandria by Virginia Tech’s Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology (ICAT).
