Member Events
Members of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts are invited to enhance their experience through a variety of events including exhibition preview days, exclusive opportunities that highlight the permanent collection, and special programs that are tailored to specific membership levels and philanthropic interests. Click here to learn more or contact Sarah Burgess at 804.204.2676 or sarah.burgess@vmfa.museum.
All Members
Member Appreciation Events and Programs
These opportunities to engage with VMFA are open to all current museum members.
Member Preview Days | Frida: Beyond the Myth
Wed, Apr 2, 2025 | noon–9 pm
Thu, Apr 3, 2025 | 10 am–9 pm
Fri, Apr 4, 2025 | 10 am–9 pm
Free; tickets required
VMFA members have the exclusive opportunity to experience Frida: Beyond the Myth before the exhibition opens to the general public! Be among the first to see this exhibition during members-only preview days—a benefit of VMFA membership.
Advance reservations strongly recommended.
Free for Member
Free for Member Child (under 18)
Free for Member Guest (Supporters-Leadership Levels ONLY)
Member Appreciation Nights | Frida: Beyond the Myth
Wednesdays | 5–9 pm
Apr 9–Sep 24, 2025
Free; tickets required
Join us Wednesday nights when VMFA members and their guests can enjoy special access to Frida: Beyond the Myth. Single-cardholder members may reserve one free guest ticket each week and dual-cardholder members may reserve two tickets.
Admission to the exhibition during Member Appreciation Nights is free for VMFA Members and guests only. The opportunity for exclusive priority booking for VMFA members begins Jan 1, 2025. Advance reservations strongly recommended.
Free for Member
Free for Member Child (under 18)
Free for Member Guest (max 2 tickets)
Member Appreciation Nights | A Long Arc and American, born Hungary
Wednesdays | 5–9 pm
Oct 9, 2024–Jan 22, 2025
Free; tickets required
VMFA members and their guests are invited to join us for a series of evenings with special access to the exhibitions A Long Arc: Photography and the American South since 1845 and American, born Hungary: Kertész, Capa, and the Hungarian American Photographic Legacy.
Single-cardholder members may reserve one free guest ticket each week and dual-cardholder members may reserve two.
Advance reservations strongly recommended. VMFA will close to the public at 5 pm on Dec 25 and Jan 1, so there will be no Member Appreciation Nights on those dates.
Member Appreciation Nights are proudly sponsored by Hamilton Beach Brands.
Friends Circle
VMFA Circle Lectures
Open to members at the Friends Circle level, the VMFA Circle Lecture Series features speakers sharing their expertise on a variety of topics in the art world as they relate to VMFA’s permanent collection and special exhibitions.
VMFA Circle Lecture Series | Anne-Lise Desmas
Fri, Feb 14, 6 pm
Behind-the-Scenes with the Getty Museum’s Sculpture and Decorative Arts Collection
with Anne-Lise Desmas, Senior Curator and Head of the Department of Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the J. Paul Getty Museum
Senior Curator Anne-Lise Desmas will offer a captivating glimpse into the department she oversees, highlighting key milestones, intriguing stories, rare masterpieces, recent acquisitions, scholarly projects, and redesign plans for the galleries. On this journey through time and space, she will share the joys and challenges of her curatorial work, as well as her passion for specific artists represented in her collection.
The VMFA Circle Lecture Series is open to all members beginning at the Friends Circle level. This program will be offered in person and virtually, via Zoom. Click here to register for the livestream.
Cocktails with a Curator
This virtual program series is a special offering for VMFA members beginning at the Friends Circle level. We hope you will join us for a virtual cocktail and live Q&A with a museum curator.
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Supporters Circle
Curator’s Choice
Curator’s Choice programs are a benefit for members beginning at the Supporters Circle level. We invite you to engage with the museum’s encyclopedic permanent collection and nourish your passion for art through exciting programs designed by the museum’s curatorial staff. These unique opportunities promise to provide the latest information about curatorial collecting strategies, care of the collections, and more!
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Partners Circle
In addition to the option to bring four guests per visit to special ticketed exhibitions, at no charge, members beginning at the Partners Circle may elect to join Canvas.
Canvas Programs
In addition to all the benefits of their chosen level of membership, Canvas members receive invitations to two exclusive Canvas events per year, a quarterly online Canvas newsletter, and the opportunity to learn about and lend support to the museum’s newest initiatives and most urgent needs.
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Patrons Society
Leadership Programs
Leadership Giving Society members provide vital ongoing philanthropic support to advance the museum’s mission. The following opportunities, including opening-night preview events, are available to all Leadership Giving Society members, beginning at the Patrons Society level.
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Fellows Society+
Fellows Programs
VMFA is delighted to offer Fellows Programs as a benefit for members beginning at the Fellows Society level. This special series of programs will provide high-level, exclusive access to the work of VMFA curators, thought leaders, and museum-field experts.
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Leadership Programs
Leadership Giving Society members provide vital ongoing philanthropic support to advance the museum’s mission. The following opportunities, including opening-night preview events, are available to all Leadership Giving Society members, beginning at the Patrons Society level.
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In addition to the member events outlined above, a number of highly customized events and programs are planned throughout the year that are tailored to specific membership levels and philanthropic interests. Leadership level members are invited to opening receptions for major exhibitions, members of Glasgow Society who have made planned gifts in support of VMFA’s mission are invited to learn about the impact of their giving, art donors are brought together to celebrate the growth of VMFA’s permanent collection each year as part of the John Barton Payne Society. These are just a few examples of the many wonderful opportunities to engage with VMFA and its mission that are provided each year. Click here to learn more or contact Caitlin Green, Annual Giving Officer, at 804.340.1427 or caitlin.green@vmfa.museum.