Lorton Prison Reformed Into Arts Center

The former D.C. Correctional Facility, above, with watchtower at far right, is being converted into an arts center. (By Gerald Martineau -- The Washington Post)

Connolly said the county's matching grant for maintenance was only intended to jump-start the project. "They have to demonstrate a broadened effort at attracting donors for long-term financial stability," he said.

Some experts have privately expressed skepticism, noting that the foundation will not only have to compete with other organizations building arts facilities -- such as an endowment campaign by George Mason University, which is planning a $56 million performing arts center at its Prince William County campus -- but private groups searching for money for other Laurel Hill projects. One who is involved in a similar struggle said the task is not insurmountable but will be difficult.

"It's going to be hard, just like it's hard for us," said Brian Marcus, associate dean for development at George Mason's College of Visual and Performing Arts. Fundraisers for GMU and its local partners, Manassas and Prince William County, have raised $5 million of the planned $15 million for the opera center's endowment but are still seeking $4 million for construction.

"Fundraising is highly competitive right now, especially in an area like Northern Virginia with the construction industry the way it is right now," Marcus said. Developers used to be good targets for fundraisers, but "they're not feeling as comfortable making significant gifts right now, so the timing is not the greatest," Marcus said. "But this will shift. Fairfax is already arts-focused . . . the market is there. It's just about doing the hard work necessary to bring it home."

The market might be there, and there is room for growth in Fairfax County, where the arts are a $77.5 million industry, according to a recent study by Americans for the Arts, a nonprofit advocacy group. Nationally, the average for communities with populations of more than a million is $267 million.

Jim Steele, a board member of the Arts Council of Fairfax County, said the southeastern end of the county has been underserved for a long time. The demand for reasonably priced studio and exhibit space in Northern Virginia remains high, he said. The Torpedo Factory has a long waiting list of artists wanting studio space.

The Workhouse recently launched its search for applications for 60 artists, whose work must be approved by a jury before they can rent space in the new center.

Watercolor artist Karen Ching, who lives a few minutes away in Fairfax Station, hopes to be one of them. When she and her family first moved to the area, she said, Lorton still housed prisoners.

Through the years she has watched the evolution of the area, from the golf course, to South County Secondary School to the arts center.

"It's amazing that much can happen in that amount of time," Ching said. "I feel fortunate we chose this end of town."