The Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, Virginia is a vibrant, 55-acre center for the arts and arts education that, through adaptive reuse, utilizes existing structures on repurposed land in the former Lorton Reformatory. A strong community partner with a growing national reputation, the Workhouse hosts celebrations, offers space for special events, and showcases Fairfax County’s commitment to the arts. The Workhouse is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and relies on the generosity of WAC partners and community.
Once surrounded by barbed wire fence, the Workhouse Arts Center now shares the glory of artistic expression and is open to all. Artists rent studio space, actors perform on the stage, students of all ages take classes from dance to blacksmithing on a beautiful arcaded campus built on the same Jeffersonian plan of linked pavilions as found on the main grounds of the University of Virginia. The annual Fourth of July fireworks festival, Brewfest, and the Halloween “Haunt” are community favorites. The most recent addition is the Lucy Burns Museum, which tells the 91-year history of the District of Columbia’s Correctional Facility and honors the suffragists who were imprisoned there in 1917 during the struggle to secure the vote for women.
Arts and arts education
Pavilions that once housed prisoners have now been renovated; there’s room for more than 80 artists in sunny, open studios. Visitors are encouraged to walk through the pavilions to see (and perhaps buy) the art and speak with the artists. The artists create in a variety of media, including painting and drawing, ceramics, photography, glass, metal, fiber, and more. The pavilions are open to visitors of all ages from Wednesday through Sunday, and each building hosts a Second Saturday Art Walk reception on the second Saturday of every month.
Classroom space allows for arts education in most of the visual arts disciplines, as well as in several dance styles and exercise methods like yoga, rowing, jazzercise and Pilates. Cooking classes take place in a demonstration kitchen. Studio instruction in piano, voice, cello and flute are available. Students from beginner to experts come to learn and study at the Workhouse.
The Workhouse Theater puts on four productions a year, to rave reviews. Their works range from popular musicals to thought-provoking modern works. Regular comedy nights and cabarets take place in the theater, and musical performances take place each Saturday evening on the Quad throughout the summer. Ballroom dancing is a popular event on select weekends in one of the main galleries.
Lucy Burns Museum
In 1917, women picketed the White House in Washington, DC to demand the right to vote. Many were arrested and imprisoned in the Women’s Workhouse. The museum honors Lucy Burns, the co-founder of the National Woman’s Party and the most-arrested suffragist in the United States. During the infamous "Night of Terror" in November, 32 women were subjected to sadistic treatment by Workhouse guards. Some suffragists, including Lucy Burns, went on a hunger strike to protest their treatment, and were force-fed by their jailers.
After they were released, the women told their stories, which unleashed national public outrage that ultimately led to passage of the 19th amendment granting women equal voting rights with men.
The museum also tells the fascinating story of the unique prison and includes some of the prison cells which were added in the 1960s.
The museum is open from 11 am to 6 pm Wednesday to Sunday.