Try Something New This Year 

New year, new you! As the calendar flipped to 2025, you’re probably looking for ways to get out of the house, add excitement to your life, and maybe find a new purpose! Learning new skills and meeting new people offers benefits for mental stimulation and physical well-being. Here are some ways to break the monotony of daily routines when you try something new in Staunton.

Express Yourself Through Art

• If you want to start creating (or level up your skills) in clay, the Staunton Clayground has a course or workshop that’s perfect for you. Check the schedule for 6-week courses, weekend workshops, and paint-your-own sessions in both free-form and wheel pottery. Test out the (muddy) water with a Friday evening session of pottery wheel for all levels.
• The Beverley Street Studio School offers a lineup of studio workshops and art history classes. Sign up to study water color, figure drawing, mixed-media collage, or come to the weekly open studio session with a model.

• Nurture your creative spirit at Art Hive, where you can use the mixed-medial materials and studio space to make something wonderful. You can also sign up for workshops and learn new skills in painting, sewing, jewelry making, cooking, crafting and other areas. Best of all, you can meet others who value the artistic community as much as you do.

• Have you tried glass blowing at Sunspots Studios yet? Stop by any day to watch artists at work in the studio, then sign up to try it yourself (with guidance from a trained glass blower, of course)!

Meet Your Community

• Learn something, have fun,and drink delicious wine when you take a weekly wine class at Accordia. The tastings are guided by professionals and will let you experience a rotating selection of eight new wines from around the world.

• The Staunton Library is a wonderful place to explore lifelong literacy and meet other people who value it. Adults can join groups like the Great Books Club or the Afternoon Classics Discussion Group. Younger folks will like the Teen Book and Teen Anime Clubs, and Mother Goose Time and Big Kid Books are designed to get toddlers and pre-school kids hooked on books at an early age.  
• Staunton Books & Tea hosts monthly thought-provoking book discussions through its International Book Club. Look for intelligent ideas and unique perspectives!
• Burrow and Vine can help you lean into the world of container gardening as well as teach you skills in a variety of areas. Look for yoga classes, craft workshops, guided painting sessions and more.

• Your green thumb will need to wait for spring, but mark the calendar for the free Garden Labs series at Jones Garden. Past labs included vegetable fermentation, homemade condiments, food as medicine, native plants, backyard foraging and other topics designed to teach all ages about sustainable gardening and lifestyle practices.
• The Staunton YMCA leads a full schedule of studio and aquatic fitness classes. Drop in to focus on strength, flexibility, cardio, and senior fitness.
• Don’t toss the current Parks and Rec brochure! You’ll find classes and opportunities for people of all ages, including sports leagues, day trips, crafting, cooking, theater, dance, and outdoor adventure. 
• Sol Art is a community space designed for safe artistic expression. Check out the schedule for writer’s group meetings, battle jacket workshops, yoga classes, and more.

Discover the Spotlight

• Silver Line Theatre Exchange has been giving Staunton’s youth population a chance to take the stage for several years. Now adults can share the limelight by signing up for classes in swordplay, musical theater and jazz dancing, and gorilla theatre improv, which “emphasizes spontaneity, physicality, and raw creativity.” Demonstrate your skills at monthly improv performances.
• American Shakespeare Center offers workshops designed to bring “Shakespeare’s plays to life using the tools of his stagecraft and the ASC’s theatrical practice.”
• ShenanArts is a community theater that puts on a number of shows year round. Follow them on Facebook for information about upcoming auditions and opportunities to get involved backstage.
• Show off (or cheer for you pals over a pint) at weekly Wednesday open mic sessions at Queen City Brewery. You’ll also enjoy joining the Open Jam Sessions at Marino’s Lunch (Tuesdays and Fridays at 7:30 pm).

Find Yourself in Nature

• Want to level up your skill set? Sign up for a guided hike or other outdoor adventure like tree or rock climbing with Vivid Earth Adventures. Vivid Earth will work with you to tailor an adventure suited to your interests and abilities.
• Members of the Southern Shenandoah Valley Hiking Club meet several times a month to explore or maintain trails in the George Washington National Forest or Shenandoah National Park. Anyone is welcome to join!

• If you’re interested in learning about the avian world and finding new friends, attend a meeting of the Augusta Bird Club. Since 1966, it’s gathered members for field trips, bird walks, citizen-science projects and more. 

Hopefully you now have some ideas about how to get out of your comfort zone and try something new this year!