Time | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
8-9 am | Breakfast | Breakfast | Breakfast | Breakfast | Breakfast | Brunch | Brunch |
9 am-12 pm | Class | Class | Class | Class | Class | Downtime | Downtime |
12-1 pm | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch |
1-4 pm | Class | Class | Class | Class | Class | Field trip | Field trip |
5:30-6:30 pm | Dinner | Dinner | Dinner | Dinner | Dinner | Dinner | Dinner |
7-11 pm | Evening activities/ downtime |
Evening activities/ downtime |
Evening activities/ downtime |
Evening activities/ downtime |
Evening activities/ downtime |
Evening activities/ downtime |
Evening activities/ downtime |
11 pm | Lights out | Lights out | Lights out | Lights out | Lights out | Lights out | Lights out |
Pre-College students live on campus in VCU residence halls. Live-in professional staff and program counselors supervise the residence halls. Students live in single-sex rooms with one roommate within mixed-gender floors. The application contains a section where you can list your living preferences and interests, including hobbies, sleeping hours, etc.
Take a virtual tour of the Gladding Residence Center where Summer Pre-College Program students live.
Meals are served in the Shafer Court Dining Center. This state-of-the-art dining facility features home-style meals, stir-fry, burgers, pizza, an extensive salad bar, and a build-your-own sandwich section. Shafer Court Dining Center offers a wide range of delicious, high quality options for participants with special needs and allergies, including vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and diabetic-friendly selections.
Students may park on campus for the duration of the program. Last year, parking rates were $19 per week, per car. We will receive 2024 rates in May 2024. Please note that students are not permitted to drive around campus or Richmond while attending the Summer Pre-College Program.
At the end of the program, your work will be showcased for your friends, family, and the VCUarts community to see!
You are encouraged to have your portfolio reviewed by VCUarts admissions representatives during the program. This is an opportunity to share your work for feedback and strengthen your portfolio to apply to art college.
Student safety and security are top priorities at Virginia Commonwealth University, and the university provides a safe, well-lit environment. Twenty-four hours a day, highly responsive campus police patrol the campus on foot, on bicycles, on scooters, and in automobiles. Additionally, well-trained counselors escort Summer Pre-College Program residential students everywhere they go to and from all meals, classes, and all activities. Unless accompanied by program staff, it is expected that students stay on the VCU campus at all times.
Welcome to Richmond, Virginia—lovingly known as RVA—where the walls of businesses and warehouses are canvases for murals and monthly gallery walks pack the streets with art lovers and food carts.
The Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU is part of the relationship between VCUarts and the city’s long-standing professional gallery and creative cultures, serving as a space for internationally recognized artists, designers, performers and the community to convene.
Richmond is the perfect home for one of the nation’s leading public arts schools. Current students work, intern and volunteer with prominent museums, parks, Hollywood film crews, and creative agencies.
The average daily temperature in Richmond in July is 80°F.
Don’t take our word for it! See what others have to say about Richmond’s excellence.
• Best Places to Live in the U.S. in 2022-2023 (U.S. News, 2022)
• Great American Cities for Creatives (That You Can Actually Afford to Live In) (Thrillist, 2022)
• Richmond, Virginia, Has Become a Culinary Powerhouse (Food & Wine, 2023)