i.e.* Press
RVA Look Book. Copyright © 2013 Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce All rights reserved. Printed in RVA, United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. This book may be purchased for educational, business, sales or promotional use. i.e.* Press 600 E Main Street, Suite 700, RVA 23219 For information please visit www.ie-rva.org FIRST EDITION ISBN # 978-0-615-87324-4
RVA LOOK BOOK SEEKS THE SWEET SPOT AT THE INTERSECTION OF ART DESIGN TALENT STORY AND PLACE TO CATALYZE RVA’S SUCCESS.
CONTENTS Introduction by Valley Haggard Photo Story
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Innovators 120 Contributors 220 Image Credits 222 Acknowledgements 224
grow, to heal, to be better than you were, to embrace your future and beg
minutes. In RVA, if you don’t like one neighborhood, walk 15 minutes—east,
forgiveness for your past, much like us, RVA, the people who love you.
west, north, south, or into the heart of the Fan. Your diverse fingertips touch everything from ethnicity to architecture. From the West End to Fulton Hill,
You’ve come a long way, RVA, and so have we.
from Lakeside to Westover Hills, from the historic homes of Church Hill to the new growth of Short Pump, you are both sides of the river and the river itself,
Your monuments are now erected not only for the fallen of past wars but for
running like horses on stampede through your own pulsing heart.
Arthur Ashe, Henry Box Brown, and a mini Ms. Liberty overlooking all of her people who are working to make the 21st century the best one yet. Because
Whether the rumored Native American spell forbidding Richmonders to
we are changing—because we have hope in the RVA of today—we are as
ever leave is real, or if our mothers buried our ombligos in our backyards, or
likely to encounter a yarn bomb or guerilla works of public art that bring us
if RVA is just such a cool, compelling place to live, it does seem that people
together as a monument to what’s possible.
who leave return and people who visit never leave. Because, RVA, you are a haven for the artist and the entrepreneur, the scientist and the doctor, the city
From the delivery rooms of the former Medical College of Virginia to the fields
planner, the musician, the writer and the dancer, the lawyer, the student and
Together, we’ve survived floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, droughts,
of Hollywood Cemetery, you are our birth place, our burial ground, and the
the lover, business owners small and large, the self-employed and the start-up.
depressions, political upheavals, and revolts, the ravages of man, history,
life we fill ourselves up with in between. You are more than the background
You are a mixing pot of money old and new, those who struggle and thrive.
Once known as Richmond, the Capital of the South, you are now RVA, the
nature, and time. You are a maiden and a crone, an innocent child and a
against which we live our lives, you are the change agent that propels our
You’re both a small big city and a huge small town. If a sign in the window of a
city of second chances, a mecca for the iconoclast, a community for people
wizened elder. With the gentility of a lady and the flair of a drag queen,
story forward, giving us something to push up against as we grow. You are a
mom & pop shop says “If we don’t have it, you don’t need it,” your sign reads
invested in creativity, innovation, inclusion, ideas, and forward thinking. The
you are grandeur and squalor, the old and the new, the broken down
cross section of the world at large, magnified to create our own unique, funky,
“If we don’t have it, we’ll create it.”
Creative Capital. Sure, the South is rising again—but this time tattooed in
and the newly built up, a kaleidoscope of kinetic change, progress, and
spunky, charming southeastern city sandwiched equal distance between the
skinny jeans, waving a rainbow flag knitted from organically grown fibers.
of history past, present and in the making. You are the topography of
mountains and the sea.
Because the key to this city is no longer simply money, power, and smoking
a beautiful woman baring the scars of a soldier returning from war.
the right brand of tobacco in the right suit, but a new, more fluid combination
Battlefields, slave trails, and graveyards etched deep in your soil are left
Not only, RVA, are you prime real estate, you flaunt the best of all four
than-life fish in a mid-sized pond with as good a chance of making a splash as
of ideas, imagination, grit, and elbow grease.
uncovered so that we won’t forget where we’ve been, but also so that
seasons, dazzling us with spring blooms, sultry nights, changing leaves, and
running into half of our graduating class at the corner store. Your streets are
we can plant new seeds and start fresh, begin again. You are striving to
winter wonderlands. Out west they say if you don’t like the weather, wait 15
teeming with a cultural explosion, infused in the murals along the Flood
Look at you... You’ve come a long way, baby. And so have we.
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Because whether we’re known as Dirt Woman, Happy the Artist, or if we have no unusual moniker at all, we make names for ourselves in RVA. We’re larger-
Wall, saturating the markets popping up along the streets, permeating the
We are eccentric. We have discovered more of who we are on the inside and
When we disagree, we protest. Red, blue, and green, we gather in the streets
us up the river and back in time as we lean on the bow, learning. We take the
minds dreaming, then daring to create. As if pent up from too many years in
we expressively display what we have found on the outside. We are tattooed
to march, to picket, to rebel. We rise up and shout out. We are not silent,
tram around Maymont, feed the goats and gaze at the bobcat, the bears, the
a too tight suit, RVA, you have unbuttoned your collar, rolled up your sleeves
and pierced, dyed and hennaed. Our skin is canvas, our ideas, ink. We use our
will not go quietly. We will be heard. We share our politics and our opinions.
otters, the koi and the buffalo. We marvel at the orchids at the Lewis Ginter
and put on your dancing shoes. And we want to dance with you.
bodies to show who we are and we speak with our hearts, hands, and minds.
We stir the pot and fan the flame and we don’t give up for ourselves, for our
Botanical Garden greenhouse, row the boats on Fountain Lake at Byrd Park,
children, for our city.
and run circles around the Carillon. We walk our dogs at the parks and visit
You’ve come a long way, baby. And so have we.
the exotic animals at the Richmond Metropolitan Zoo. We celebrate beauty,
We value education. We go to public schools, private schools, alternative
natural and man-made, chaotic and purposeful.
progressive schools, and charter schools. We are home schooled. We fight
And we love to have a good time. We festival as a vibrant verb. We taste
As a people, we are more diverse. We have a sweet southern drawl and a
for education reform because we are teachers who once were students and
tempeh at the Vegetarian Festival, slurp spicy sloppy pork barbecue at High
fast urban clip. We dance across the socio-economic, multicultural, racial,
if we’ve learned anything it’s that we’ll never stop learning. So we teach and
on the Hog and gorge on sweet red flesh at the Watermelon Festival. We
We compete and cheer, full of spirit, vim and fight. We root for the Rams, the
religious, and sexual divide. We are country, metropolitan, suburban, and
we learn from each other and we learn from you, RVA, as your daughters
savor local chefs’ gourmet delights at Broad Appétit and shake what our
Spiders and Nutzy’s Flying Squirrels. We fill the stadiums and do the wave.
exurban. We are African-American, Asian, Australian, European, South
and your sons—planted and prodigal, rooted and renegade. We listen to your
mamas gave us at the 2 Street Festival. We wear fancy hats and our dogs
We sculpt our own bodies. We run the streets, over the hills, and through the
American, Mexican, and Caribbean. We are Jewish, Catholic, Protestant,
stories and we study your history so that we can learn what we need to do,
wear even fancier for Easter on Parade. We lurch like the living dead at the
trails for 5K’s, 10K’s, and marathons. We bike as though we invented it. We
Buddhist, New Age, Muslim, and atheist. We are pink, tan, black, brown,
and not merely repeat what’s already been done.
Zombie Walk in Carytown. We celebrate in high style, year-round, to both
play soccer and football, volleyball and badminton, ping-pong and baseball.
get down and live it up.
We box and wrestle and race fast cars. We practice yoga on paddleboards
amber, and umber. We are queer, straight, bi, curly, kinky, spiked,
and perform Tai Chi in the park. We fire at the shooting range and we bet at
transgendered, buzzed, mohawked, nappy, and afroed. We are mixed,
We care for you, RVA. We show up at homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and
muggle, half-blood, warlock, omnivore, carnivore, vegetarian, vegan, zombie,
animal shelters. We feed, clothe, house, and educate our sisters and brothers,
We revel in nature. We swim and run and gather and worship on the banks
the horse races. We slam dance, belly dance, ballet, and African dance, we
werewolf, vampire. We are hipsters and squares, white collars, blue collars,
our parents, our children. We form non-profits, join boards, and give our time,
of the James. We jump from rock to rock, we canoe and kayak and fish your
Zumba, salsa, and cha-cha-cha. We team up for roller derby and ladies’ arm
orange jumpsuits, and rainbow explosions. We are kente and cool.
talent, and resources to make a difference.
waters. We explore and discover and take our lessons from the natural world.
wrestling and play Frisbee golf in the park. Loving to win but learning from
We sail on canal cruises guided by men dressed in period clothes who take
our losses, we never, ever give up.
We love art; making it, buying it, teaching and collecting it. We stroll First
proper pies. We garden and buy fresh produce from the farmer’s markets,
in stadiums, living rooms, and garages. We busk on the street, in choruses, in
We are green. We travel in biodiesel taxis and hybrid cars, on pogo sticks
Fridays Art Walk and gather in the galleries. We craft our walls with original
street corners, and traveling buses. We drink Southern Comfort and mint
bands, and a capella. We have our own rhythms and dance to our own drums.
and stilts, on bikes, scooters, and unicycles. We ride the bus tour by Segway.
paintings, drawings, etchings, and prints. We marvel at marble, oil, glass,
juleps, fine wines, malt liquors, and craft brews. We frequent funky joints and
watercolor, acrylic, and steel molded and painted and shaped by the masters
fine establishments, soaking in the culture of the night and the art of breaking
We play with words. We read, write, blog, tweet, and paper the lamp posts
on exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. We learn about everything
fast. We crave and create flavor from across the sea to our own backyards.
with our flyers and our ideas and our poetry. We shop at independent, used,
from the inner workings of our own bodies to the celestial bodies at the
We walk in wonder, enjoying the scenic route. We reduce, reuse, and recycle, eager to protect our earth and our city.
rare, and alternative bookstores from Fountain Books to Chop Suey Books to
We are lovers, in love with you, RVA. Virginia is for Lovers, yes, but not
Science Museum. We delight as our children learn through play at the
Then, there’s our flair for drama—on stage, screen, and street. We fill
the Black Swan. We devour weeklies and glossy monthlies. We raise literary
just the kind that kiss on TV. We are passionate lovers of science and the
Children’s Museum of Richmond and shiver in glee while horrifying ourselves
Dogwood Dell’s outdoor arena and we stand in line at the Hippodrome, the
giants and we play roles in their masterpieces. We are the creepy mystique
environment, of technology and progress, of the underdog and the rebel, of
at the Poe. We vow never to forget at the Holocaust Museum and Slave Burial
Mosque, the Firehouse Theatre, and CenterStage. We watch independent
of Edgar Allan Poe, the surreal wonderland of Tom Robbins, and the new
the thinker and the inventor, the artist and the doer. We love the gritty, tough
Ground and study our history at Agecroft Hall, Valentine Richmond History
films and lend our talented selves to Hollywood. We feel l’amour for the
journalism of Tom Wolfe. We are poets and playwrights, screenwriters,
hide and the soft lush underbelly of the city in which we live, work, and thrive.
Center, the Virginia Historical Society, and the Black History Museum and
French Film Festival, the Environmental Film Festival, and the International
novelists, memoirists, essayists, and language lovers. We write from our
Cultural Center. We experience the agony of the newly captive on the slave
Film Festival. We thrill en masse to the stentorian tones of pipe organ playing
hearts through our heads to our hands, inventing new worlds and weaving
RVA, you give us the status quo to rise above, the past to transcend, the
trail and vow never, ever again. We expand our cultural arts education at the
on Saturday nights at the historic Byrd Theatre, chandeliers glittering all
new futures.
future to create, the model to remold, the pad to launch from, and the soft
Visual Arts Center of Richmond and the studio school of the VMFA.
around. We are extras and we are stars and we show up at our cinemas and stages in droves to support our brothers and sisters of the screen.
A city of foodies, we work hard, play hard, and eat hard. We savor both the
place to fall when it’s time to try again. You urge us to cross all sides of the RVA is eclectic style. We design and craft our own clothes, form our
tracks and both sides of the river, to break down the barriers that have kept
own fashion and knit our own sweaters. We browse funky thrift stores,
us apart while inviting us to come together as unique individuals woven into
gourmet and the gritty in boutique eateries and local dives. We grind our
We create and groove to music, from GWAR and the Richmond Symphony
consignment shops, and high-end specialty shops in Carytown, at Libbie and
one colorful, vibrant community in the process of a beautiful transformation.
own beans, brew our own coffee, and sip our own blends of exotic tea. We
to street drummers’ go-go beats. We tune in to independent radio stations,
Grove, Grace Street, Willow Lawn, Stony Point, and Short Pump. We lift up
This is RVA, not the fallen, but the city that is rising again.
raise our own honey bees and grow our own tomatoes. We eat specialty
“radio for the rest of us,” and show up in droves to dance and sing and make
our local crafters and our craftiest artisans and flaunt our spunk and elegance,
cupcakes and homemade, hand-decorated donuts, pastries, pasties, and
merry at the many stages of the Folk Festival. We go to concerts and shows,
wearing our accessories like art.
Look at you, RVA. You’ve come a long way, baby. And so have we.
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RVA’s triple train crossing is the first of its kind in the world.
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RVA’s vibrant dance community includes the Latin Ballet, the Richmond Ballet, and the Elegba Folklore Society, among others.
Some of the most influential people in the world have visited RVA’s Landmark Theater for the Richmond Forum, including heads of state, humanitarians, scientists, creatives, and business leaders. All 4,200 seats were filled when filmmaker Steven Spielberg, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, and screenwriter Tony Kushner took the stage to discuss the hit film Lincoln.
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The Henricus Dauber Dash and Slaughterama: seriously dirty fun!
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An avid cycling city, RVA hosts a number of riding events from the competitive to the wacky.
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We do love our brew! The craft has caught on and the competition makes for one heady experience.
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South of the James Market features everything from live music (of course) to the freshest locally grown produce and farm raised meat and fish.
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Easter on Parade: a collision of color, costume, and camaraderie.
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RVA’s fashion scene is ever evolving thanks to designers and boutiques like Shockoe Denim, Ledbury, and Roan.
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Dominion Riverrock is the East Coast’s premier outdoor lifestyle festival in the heart of the urban riverfront.
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Richmond’s theater scene boasts a range of venues and talent.
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RVA’s dynamic food landscape amps the appetite ante with inventive cuisine, creating a genre bending, fusion-inspired foodie scene that’s garnering national and international attention.
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Music thrives in RVA. An abundance of festivals, talent, venues, and fans are the elements of a perfect musical storm.
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TEDxRVA engages the creative community, sharing ideas across all disciplines.
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No doubt RVA’s creativity is fueled by its local roasteries.
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Iconic murals adorn several of RVA’s favorite restaurants.
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The RVA Street Art Festival transforms the city, location by unexpected location.
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The Richmond Folk Festival is quintessential RVA. Its distinguishing feature is cultural diversity across the entertainment spectrum.
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There’s a festival for everything in this town (Bacon Festival, anyone?) and food, great food, is an integral part of each and every one.
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Jackson Ward is one of RVA’s most historically significant and culturally vital communities.
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In the nation’s only urban setting with Class III and IV rapids, RVA’s James River is the wild heart and peaceful soul of the region.
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First Fridays Art Walk has expanded beyond the traditional gallery tours to include street performances, DJs, live music, and a party-with-a-purpose vibe.
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The Richmond Mural Project brings internationally known muralists to RVA and produces startling, amusing, and thought-provoking public art. 84
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Once celebrated as “The Harlem of the South,” Jackson Ward draws nearly 50,000 people for the festival/reunion known as “2 Street,” to enjoy live music, delicious food, marketplace shopping, and more.
Popular go-go syncopation is the rhythm of Richmond’s many talented street drummers.
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Food trucks hold court around RVA.
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The Broad Appétit food festival features RVA’s top chefs’ favorite cuisines, a true “Taste of Richmond” experience.
ideas emerging