Collaborative, Innovative Williamsburg Public Art Council Formed

In February 2021, Williamsburg City Council adopted an ordinance and resolution to create the Williamsburg Public Art Council (WPAC) with a purpose to:

● Celebrate the City’s past, present, and future with public art;

● Enhance the City’s identity and economic vitality by encouraging people to spend more time in the City engaged with public art; and

● Highlight and enhance the beauty and unique character of the City.

In 2021, the WPAC took inventory of existing public art in the City; developed an application process for public art on private property; created a list of potential public art locations of City property; and conducted a public input survey. The WPAC is currently overseeing the approval and installation of several new murals in Midtown Row.

Fraga Magna Rotabila (latin for Large Strawberry with Wheels) by Williamsburg artist Merrilee Cleveland was approved for placement in Bicentennial Park by the WPAC in August 2021. The sculpture was donated to the City by the Triangle Arts & Culture League and stands as a symbol of love, nurturing, and protection.

"The vibrant culture of our community is one of the many drivers supporting our economic development efforts. Public art has been a City Council priority for many years, and I am personally excited to see it now celebrated across the entire city footprint."

— BARBARA

In 2021, the Williamsburg Area Arts Commission distributed 25 grants totaling $157,000 to the following arts organizations for their continued events and programming efforts:

Accordion Renaissance

An Occasion for the Arts

Chesapeake Bay Wind Ensemble

Flute Frenzy

Global Film Festival at William & Mary

Institute for Dance

Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation

Open Door Concert Series

Opera in Williamsburg

Panglossian Productions

StageLights

Tidewater Classical Guitar

Virginia Arts Festival

Virginia Opera

Virginia Regional Ballet

Virginia Stage Company

WPAC is made up of members of City Council, the Architectural Review Board, Planning Commission, Economic Development Authority, Tourism Development Grant Review Committee, and citizens. WPAC will highlight existing cultural assets and bring new art to the forefront to draw people living, working, and visiting in the community together.

Virginia Symphony Orchestra

WHRO

Williamsburg Choral Guild

Williamsburg Contemporary Art Center

Williamsburg Music Club

Tourism Development Investments

The City's Tourism Development Fund (TDF) has been investing in the community since 2019 to increase patronage to restaurants, hotels, and events in the City of Williamsburg through financial assistance and reinvestments in tourism products, place-making projects, special events, and public-private partnerships. The following community partner organizations received allocations this year from the City's Tourism Development Fund.

Ampersand International Arts Festival* $25,000

An Occasion for the Arts $25,000

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation $1,300,000

Culturefix $340,000

Williamsburg Hotel Motel Association $11,000

Williamsburg Live (Virginia Arts Festival) $125,000

*Formerly the William & Mary Global Film Festival

The Edge District

The Edge District — a foodie destination at the convergence of James City County, York County, and the City of Williamsburg — was formally launched in July 2021 with an event called “Running with Scissors”. These back-to-back ribbon cuttings celebrated all participating businesses in the district spanning all three localities in Greater Williamsburg.

Eastern Virginia Regional Industrial Facility Authority (EVRIFA)

The Eastern Virginia Regional Industrial Facility Authority (EVRIFA) successfully acquired a 432-acre former Commonwealth of Virginia Emergency Fuel Farm in December 2021. Simultaneous with the acquisition, the authority leased 250 acres of the property to CI Renewables for a 20-megawatt facility. EVRIFA plans to develop the remaining acreage as a light industrial park. Six of EVRIFA’s 10 member jurisdictions — York, Isle of Wight, Poquoson, Williamsburg, Hampton and Newport News — funded the costs associated with this initiative and have agreed to revenue sharing on the entire property. EVRIFA currently includes James City County, Williamsburg, Gloucester County, York County, Newport News, Hampton, Poquoson, Franklin, Chesapeake, and Isle of Wight County.

Williamsburg Downtown

Williamsburg Downtown is a new nonprofit organization created in partnership with the City of Williamsburg in 2021 to enhance the awareness and economic vitality of the downtown business district. This new effort is one of the resulting recommendations of a Downtown Vibrancy Study from 2018. To launch their inaugural fundraising event, Photos with Santa, Williamsburg Downtown was awarded a $30,000 grant from the City’s Tourism Promotion Contingency Fund.

In 2021, the City of Williamsburg rejoined the Hampton Roads Alliance, the leading regional economic development organization for the Hampton Roads region of Virginia. Alongside 13 locality partners, Williamsburg will benefit from this publicprivate partnership’s focus on attracting, growing, and retaining companies and talent across the region.