First Fridays in Charlottesville are always a celebration of the arts, but the April 7 First Friday carries another reason for artists and art lovers to cheer: the relaunch of The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative in a sprawling new space on the Downtown Mall.

“We see this space, which is called the Underground, as a center for creative collaboration,” says Bridge PAI executive director Jay Simple, who started the job in July. 

“One of the things that we spent time doing is talking to our community,” Simple explains.” And one of the big things that everyone talked about was a need for more spaces and also a desire to have a more interconnected artist community. 

The new 4,300 square-foot Bridge space occupies the basement of the former bank building at the corner of East Main and Third streets that also houses Vault Virginia coworking space and The Bradbury event space and cafe. (The Bridge was previously located in a space adjacent to Lampo restaurant near the Belmont Bridge.)

In addition to co-working space of its own for creatives, the Bridge will offer six semi-private and two fully private studios and make available equipment that is often too expensive for artists to purchase on their own.

“You don’t have to worry about the cost of buying a printer or a 4K camera, all the kind of things that artists really need to explore their career, whether they want to do it as a craft or professionally,” says Simple. Other supplies from easels to paint and computers and cutting maps will also be available to members at no charge.

Vault Virginia founder James Barton says his business is leasing the space to the Bridge after seeking the perfect tenant since Vault launched in 2018.

“I’ve wanted the ground floor to be a maker space of sorts, but it was always needing to have an operating organization,” says Barton. “The Bridge was a really natural partner to add to the building.”

Barton says he anticipates collaborating with the Bridge on events

“I’m thinking of them as a programming partner,” he says. “They will likely take advantage of the fact we have a large event space upstairs. I’m sure we’re going to do lots more social events with them.”

Simple, who gave an interview to Charlottesville Right Now, says the Bridge is also forging relationships with other local arts organizations including Vinegar Hill Magazine and Bad Milk Press “ to give our community access to a lot of folks who give resources, but also to create avenues by which artists that use our space can find professional development and hopefully job opportunities.”

There are two types of memberships to the Bridge: creators can join for free and donor members can pay as little as $10 month to support the arts in Charlottesville.

The new Bridge location will be open Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday 9am to 5pm, and Friday and Saturday from noon 12 to 9pm.

Hear the full interview with Bridge PAI Executive Director Jay Simple here.