About RiVA

The River Valley Arts Alliance (RiVA) began in the summer of 2008 when a series of roundtable discussions involving members of the artistic, cultural, and educational communities were held in order to examine the need for an organization dedicated to advancing and promoting the arts in New Brunswick’s Saint John River Valley. As a result of these initial meetings, a steering committee was assembled with the mission of establishing a support network for the area’s vast and isolated pool of artistic talent, as well as their potential audience. Based in the town of Woodstock, RiVA was officially launched on November 1st, 2008 with an open house and exhibition at O’Toole Gallery in Grafton.

aRiVA! 2008 at O'Toole Gallery

Legally recognized as a not-for-profit corporation with a founding board of directors in early 2009, RiVA undertook its two major flagship projects that summer: the annual Dooryard Arts Festival, a celebration of local talent of all types held in mid-August, and the establishment of a public art gallery in downtown Woodstock. While a number of false-starts and financial roadblocks have thusfar stunted our search for a gallery space, the outstanding success of the first two Dooryard Festivals has given RiVA a reputation as a major player in the arts and culture sector of the province, and paved the way for bigger, better programming in 2011.

In 2010, RiVA received a federal New Horizons for Seniors grant to assist in organizing, promoting, and executing intergenerational art workshops. Now, in 2011, our GenerationART program has become a core aspect of our operations.

Our hope is to help foster a community – to ensure accessibility to the arts to all, to connect artist to audience, and to encourage growth on both an individual as well as a regional level. Thanks to your tremendous support in the last two years, we are moving closer to unearthing and connecting a vibrant artistic community each day!

Mandate

The River Valley Arts Alliance was formed as an organizational body with the intention of uniting the many isolated artists in the Upper Saint John River Valley and providing networking opportunities for artists and art enthusiasts. RiVA also takes an active role in organizing and promoting cultural events, and furthering the advancement of the arts in the region through advocacy and education.