The coming 2025-26 Pollak Society season promises to be filled with opportunities to experience the living laboratory of art, design, and boundless possibility that is VCUarts. Pollak Society membership guarantees access to not-to-be-missed events and is an investment in the future of VCUarts that directly empowers the performers, designers, educators and artists whose imagination, craft and research will shape our world for decades to come. Please join us as we embark on another year of exploration, collaboration and advancement.
CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF THE POLLAK SOCIETY
Established in 2005, this influential group of art enthusiasts and influencers is named for Theresa Pollak, founder of the VCU School of the Arts. Her first class in 1928 raised the bar for artists and artistic freedom and her passion, creativity and foresight are at the core of VCUarts, one of the country’s top arts and design schools. For two decades, the Pollak Society has provided critical funding that strengthens the vitality of the school and helped our brightest students realize their promise.
THE VALUE OF MEMBERSHIP
Membership in the Pollak Society stimulates artistic excellence at VCUarts and forms a nexus for creativity and inclusion. Members are invited to experience art in beautiful and unexpected ways through travel opportunities, unique events and engaging with renowned faculty, talented students, acclaimed alumni and each other.
SHAPING THE FUTURE
This is an exciting time to be a part of the VCUarts community. The vanguard exhibitions and programming at the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU strengthen and complement the school and provide intersections for collaboration, research and discovery. And as we look to a bright future of excellence in artistic practice, performance, innovation and design, and to opening the highly anticipated CoStar Center for Arts and Innovation, the generosity of Pollak Society members enables our students, faculty and alumni to continue to fuel the artistic and creative world in Richmond, and across the globe.
Join the Pollak Society
We Invite you to join us on this thrilling journey
Member Benefits
All patron-level benefits, plus:
- An invitation to join VCUarts faculty and alumni at special events in New York and Los Angeles
- VIP access to Art Basel Miami Beach and other art and design happenings
- Opportunity to direct half of your gift to support a special exhibition, Theatre production or the annual Fashion Event, with the associated recognition and benefits
All member-level benefits, plus:
- Tailored behind-the-scenes experience for you and two guests with your favorite VCUarts department
- Receptions with VCUarts Lecture Series artists, performers, designers and scholars
- Invitations to six exclusive VCUarts events throughout the academic year
- A subscription to Studio, the VCUarts magazine
- Acknowledgement in the Pollak Society brochure and on the website
Join us today
Upcoming Exclusive Events
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9
VCUarts Craft/Material Studies hosts esteemed alumni makers for an evening of art and conversation. Hear firsthand how artists are forging new pathways in an ever-changing entrepreneurial landscape.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14
Enjoy a reception and special performance of A Chorus Line, a first-time collaboration of the VCUarts Departments of Music, Theatre and Dance + Choreography.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10
Travel with VCUarts to Charlottesville for a reception at this year’s Southern Living Idea House. VCU alumna Charlotte Moss (B.A. ’73), designer of the Idea House, will share insights into the home, which will have its halls fully decked for the holidays.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18
Preview VCUarts Painting + Printmaking alumni exhibition at Chasen, Capital Square’s newest residential building in Scott’s Addition.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25
In partnership with Virginia Public Media, join Photography + Film professor Sasha Waters for conversation and clips of her film, Mary Oliver, Love the Mystery, which will air nationally in June 2026.
MAY (Date TBA)
Visit one of Richmond’s most dynamic private art collections and see firsthand how art sparks conversation and fosters creative exchange.
*Dates and event format is subject to change
Contact the Development Team
By joining the Pollak Society, you can support the creative endeavors of VCUarts students, faculty and staff. To learn more about the Pollak Society, please contact:
Sarah Hendricks, Executive Director of Development
shendricks@vcu.edu / (804) 828-8844
Member List
Thank you to our 2024-25 Pollak Society Members
Melanie and Richard De Schutter
Virginia and Steve Harvey
Deborah and John Kemper
Kemper Family Fund
Christy and Michael Lantz
Pam Royall
Vicky Bleick and Chuck Bleick
Richard Birnbaum
Nita and Jack Enoch
Carolyn and Thomas Garner
Wendy and William Garner
Garner Family Fund
Meg and John Gottwald
Jeffrey Gumenick
The Gumenick Fund
Terrell and Elliott Harrigan
John Herrington and Keith Toth
Laura and Gary Lewis
Anita and Thomas Lisk
Courtney Romero
Suzanne Seipel
Marcia and Harry Thalhimer
Charles G. Thalhimer and Family Foundation
Katie and Ted Ukrop
Ted and Katie Ukrop Fund
Phoebe Antrim
Lloyd and Art Backstrom
Anne Battle and Leonard Slater
Claudia and Steven Biegler
Biegler Family Donor Advised Fund
Melissa and Julian Bowen-Rees
Gwen Burroughs
Susan Butler
Edie and Bob Cabaniss
Gisela Chelimsky, M.D., and Thomas Chelimsky, M.D.
Katharine and David Crowl
Rachel and Douglas Dalton
Kay and Philip Davidson
Birch Douglass
Joanna Duffett and Alan Hutson
Maya Erhardt and Cristian Romero
Debra and David Fitzgerald
Yvonne and Charles Gold
Meg and John Gottwald
Kathryn Gray and Alexander Nyerges
Jim and Evelyn Gregory
Martha Estes Grover
Estes Foundation
Suzanne Hall and Joseph Willis
National Philanthropic Fund
Sarah Hendricks and Kevin Badgett
Susan and John Jamieson
Sharon Larkins Pederson and Edson Pederson
Anne Lee and Stuart Lee
The Lewis and Butler Foundation
Frances Lewis
Ginny and Andy Lewis
Rab McClure and Alex Ritter
John McGurl, M.D., and Michelle Gluck
Linda and Steve Nash
Candy Osdene
Michi Ouchi
Susan and Carl Patow
Carl and Sue Patow Giving Account
Karen and John Palen
JS Fauquet and Joseph Papa
Karen and Scott Phillips
Megan and Alex Schad
Nancy M. Scott
Mr. and Mrs. John Jay Schwartz 1st Ultimate Ram
Jayne and Brian Shaw
Lynn and Chip Spitzer
Mary and Jack Spain
Tracy and Tom Stallings
Jae and Bill Stegeman
Tina and Lewis Stoneburner
Sherry and Kent* Titus
Jan Tutton and Roger Tutton, M.D.
Julie and Paul Weissend
Sandra and Tyrone Wilkins
Jerry Williams and Richard Reed
Williams/Reed Giving Fund
Vann T. Williams
Elizabeth and J.D. Wright
The J.D. and E.D. Wright Family Fund
*deceased
