How Virginians Power Rural Bath County’s Cultural Ecosystem
In the rolling Allegheny Highlands of Virginia, you’ll find Bath County—population 4,500—anchored by winding mountain roads, towering forests, and the kind of quiet that invites reflection. You might not expect to find a world-class chamber music center, a 60-year-old regional art show, or a new community arts hub. And yet, Bath County isn’t just home to these things—it was recently named one of the Top 30 Most Arts-Vibrant Rural Communities in America by SMU DataArts.
What sets Bath County apart? According to leaders at the Garth Newel Music Center and the Bath County Arts Association, it’s a unique blend of local vision, private generosity, and public funding that empowers rural creativity to thrive.
🎻 Rooted in Place: Music, Mountains, and Meaning
For Jeanette Fang, artistic director and pianist at Garth Newel Music Center, the answer is simple: “There’s something to be said about making music in a place of natural beauty. The harmony in nature deepens the harmony in music.”
Garth Newel has been offering concerts, residencies, and youth programming year-round since 1973. It is not just a summer festival—it is an enduring part of the county’s economic and cultural fabric. From touring across Virginia through the Virginia Commission for the Arts’ Artist Roster to hosting local K-12 string programs that fill education gaps in area schools, Garth Newel does what rural arts institutions do best: adapt, anchor, and connect.
“Without the support of the Virginia Commission for the Arts,” Fang notes, “we would lose a lot. Their touring directory helps us reach new communities. Their funding underwrites our ability to offer free or low-cost programs. They’re not just funders—they’re partners.”
🖼 A New Chapter for a Legacy Organization
Bath County Arts Association (BCAA) has been enriching the local arts scene for over six decades. Known for its flagship Bath County Art Show, which now exhibits close to 1,000 works annually, the BCAA is entering a new era. This year, the group hired its first full-time Executive Director and will soon open “The Bear”—a brick-and-mortar community arts space in downtown Hot Springs.
“I’ve received BCAA support as a student, an artist, and now as a leader,” says Sage Tanguay, the new director. “They paid for books when I was studying at UVA. Later, they helped fund dance classes I taught in the county. This organization has always believed in me—and in Bath County.”
Board President Leigh Johnson describes the Bear as a "unifying space," where residents—many of whom live miles apart across mountainous terrain—can gather for workshops, exhibitions, or just a shared conversation. It’s more than a gallery; it’s a civic living room.
📈 Statewide Arts Impact: Why Public Funding Resonates in Bath County
In 2022, nonprofit arts and culture organizations and their audiences generated a staggering $151.7 billion in economic activity across the United States. Of that, $73.3 billion came from organizational spending and $78.4 billion from event-driven audience expenditures—fueling 2.6 million jobs and contributing $29.1 billion in tax revenue nationwide.
The ripple effects are evident in Virginia. In the Richmond–Tri-Cities region, the nonprofit arts sector produced nearly $330 million in economic activity, supported 6,742 jobs, and returned over $82 million in tax revenue. Even in smaller metropolitan areas such as South Hampton Roads, arts-related economic activity reached $270 million, with audiences spending an average of $35–$36 per event beyond ticket prices.
At the heart of this ecosystem is the Virginia Commission for the Arts (VCA). Along with the Virginia Touring grants utilized by the Garth Newel Music Center, the VCA supports communities through Creative Communities Partnership grants, Community Impact grants, Arts In Practice grants, Education Impact grants, and most importantly General Operating grants. These public programs bring access, stability, and visibility to arts organizations across the Commonwealth—from urban centers to rural enclaves.
🌄 Why It Matters in Bath County
Bath County is not a metro area, nor does it generate hundreds of millions in cultural revenue. But it doesn’t need to. What Bath offers—through organizations like the Garth Newel Music Center and the Bath County Arts Association (BCAA)—is a compelling example of how small, strategic investments in the arts yield profound local returns.
With a population of just over 4,000 residents, Bath County's arts infrastructure plays an outsized role in its civic life. Public funding from the VCA is essential in sustaining this ecosystem, providing:
Stability for year-round programming, particularly during non-peak seasons,
Accessibility for underserved residents through free events, youth scholarships, and arts education,
Tourism leverage that multiplies modest grants into economic activity via overnight stays, restaurant visits, and retail engagement.
Bath County is a microcosm of what public arts funding is designed to achieve—it ensures that cultural life is not reserved for the wealthy or the urban, but is instead embedded in the fabric of every Virginia community.
🧠 Public Dollars, Big Returns
Public arts funding delivers measurable impact at every level—from national to hyperlocal. According to the AEP6 study, nonprofit arts and culture organizations generated $151.7 billion in economic activity across the U.S. in 2022, underscoring the sector’s national significance. In Virginia, the Richmond–Tri-Cities region produced nearly $330 million in arts-related activity, while South Hampton Roads contributed $270 million, both demonstrating strong returns in communities of varying sizes. At the state level, the Virginia Commission for the Arts supports a wide range of programs across the Commonwealth, including rural and underserved areas. In Bath County, while the dollar figures may be smaller, the impact is no less profound—public funding amplifies access to arts education, drives cultural tourism, and strengthens the civic infrastructure that makes creative life possible in this remote Appalachian community.
🧩 Public Funding as Cultural Infrastructure
While Bath County benefits from the generosity of local donors and seasonal residents, leaders at both Garth Newel and BCAA emphasized that private philanthropy alone cannot sustain the arts in a rural setting.
“We wouldn't exist without our membership and donors,” said Leigh Johnson, President of BCAA. “But what public funding provides is continuity and reach.”
With the recent hiring of a grant writer, BCAA is now actively pursuing state and federal funds that will deepen its community impact. Public support isn’t just additive—it’s catalytic.
“Diversity of funding is everything,” added Jeanette Fang, Artistic Director at Garth Newel. “You can’t build a resilient arts organization on private donations alone. The VCA and NEA allow us to plan—not just survive.”
That sentiment rings especially true in places like Bath County, where a single organization often serves as educator, presenter, employer, and civic hub. Without public funding, the entire ecosystem is at risk. With it, communities flourish.
🌱 Why It Matters Now
As national debates over public arts funding escalate—and as rural communities continue to grapple with underinvestment in infrastructure—Bath County offers a clear example of what happens when even modest public dollars are paired with local ingenuity.
These investments pay dividends:
Tourism driven by the arts supports local inns, restaurants, and galleries.
Youth education fills the gaps left by under-resourced school districts.
Creative placemaking encourages remote workers and former residents to return and stay.
Tangway puts it best: “In cities, if one arts organization closes, something else takes its place. In a rural place like Bath, if it’s not supplied by us, it doesn’t happen at all. That’s why we need support.”
🏛 Arts as Public Good
Virginians for the Arts, the arts advocacy organization for Virginia, is currently advocating for a $1 per capita investment in the arts through the Virginia Commission for the Arts. For a place like Bath County, that single dollar would go so very far. It would support performances in school gyms, classes in renovated storefronts, and concerts under the stars that become family traditions.
Bath County isn’t simply consuming the arts—it’s creating a model for rural cultural sustainability that the rest of the country should pay attention to.
📍 Listen to the full interviews with Bath County Arts Association and Garth Newel Music Center on the Small Town Big Arts podcast
🎧 Listen on Spotify, Listen on Apple Podcasts, Watch on YouTube
🔗 Learn more and support advocacy for public arts funding at vaforarts.org