Richmond artists get honest about lack of city support

Recently, Richmond topped CNN’s “America’s Best Towns to Visit“ and was ranked second on USA Today’s “Best Street Art“ list, surpassing cities like Miami, Detroit, and Philadelphia.

The city of Richmond has capitalized on the active street art scene, highlighting it in marketing materials such as the “Richmond is Real” campaign..

Chris Visions, known for his work on Marvel’s “Scarlet Witch” and DC Comics’ “Constantine” series, feels overlooked in a system that champions creativity but fails to provide adequate support. He also noted instances where his artwork was used without accreditation.

“There’s no accreditation. [Street art] has never really about that. But when it starts benefiting everyone else, and we’re still getting pushback for the thing we’re doing, it’s like okay, hold on. What’s going on?” he said.

At the end of 2023, former city spokesperson Petula Burks approached the Richmond-based art collective All City Art Club to discuss potential projects. Richmond muralist Silly Genius proposed creating a gallery of street art in a Carytown parking garage near the Byrd Theatre.

“It just seemed like the most logical,” said Silly Genius, who declined to provide his real name for this article. “Painting on a wall disrupts nothing, you don’t have to build anything. And it’ll be relatively cheap in the grand scheme of things. It just hit all the markers for like, being easy and quick to do.”

But the permitting process with the city took six months.

The project involved over 35 artists who completed more than 100 works of art inside the parking garage, transforming it into a makeshift gallery showcasing Richmond’s talent. The initiative has been dubbed “Parking Lot Pieces.”

Silly Genius, along with participating artists Chris Visions and Emily Herr, noted that while the project was well-received by the community and the city, the approval process highlighted the city’s inadequate support for its artists.

Richmond consistently earns praise for its art scene, topping many “best of” lists for street art and culture. However, beneath the surface, artists express frustration over limited support from the city.

“There is an un-navigable permitting process. You can’t get money from the city because they only fund projects on city-owned property. And if you’re getting money from private corporations, then you’re always kind of at the whim of what they want,” said Silly Genius. “The reason this project even took off was because we didn’t do any of that.”

Visions has worked with the city twice, for “Parking Lot Pieces” and the Sankofa mural at the intersection of Brook and Marshall.

For “Parking Lot Pieces,” Silly Genius and Chris Visions submitted an invoice for $10,000. “Silly and I received $2,500 each for organizing and labor, and the other half went to supplies and rentals. Sadly, none of the 30 plus artists received payment, but showed up and worked with us for two weeks to get it done for the love of what we do, and to show what a project like this could do for the city and the community,” Visions said.

With over 100 pieces of art painted inside of the Carytown parking garage, “Parking Lot Pieces” is worth close to half a million dollars, Visions said.

Richmond-based artist Hamilton Glass, with over 300 murals in the city, says he understands the frustrations of local artists.

Glass acknowledges the Public Arts Commission’s efforts to improve relations with artists, but notes the conversations often reveal a lack of trust and communication.

“This is a hard thing to speak on,” he said. “I think the artist’s frustration more so comes from the city taking credit for the work, and I’m not going to point to anybody and say they’ve taken credit, but our work is certainly being used in promotional materials, for Richmond, and we are being recognized for it, but we as in the artist community, do not really receive the credit for it and that is… it’s a shame.”

The Public Arts Commission, Richmond’s advisory board for public art policy, aims to bridge the gap between the city, artists, and the community to create more opportunities.

“Richmond is full of incredible art, artists, art organizations and institutions — and the more opportunities for the public to engage with the arts in Richmond, the better,” said Monica Kinsey, the commission’s planner and secretary, in an email.

The city declined to comment on the permitting process for “Parking Lot Pieces” and referred the question to the Department of Planning and Development Review.

“We are always working to make sure our processes are as efficient as possible, and I had not heard concerns about this project,” Kevin Vonck, director of planning and development review, said in an email. “While there is a lot of art in the city that is visible and accessible to the public, the scope of the PAC is limited to art that is on public property – parcels, parks, and rights-of-way.” He said the primary function of the PAC is to advise the City Planning Commission on matters that pertain to design and location of any work of art that is or may become the property of the city. Vonck said that the PAC and PDR were not involved with “Parking Lot Pieces.”

Despite Richmond’s identity as a hub for creativity, many artists feel their needs are overlooked in favor of commercial interests, threatening the city’s true cultural essence.

Earlier this year, plans were announced to transform the Haxall hydroelectric plant into an indoor racket sports venue called the Padel Plant, potentially limiting public access to the murals created during the RVA Street Art Festival.

In a statement released to the public, the RVA Street Art Festival Board said that some artists may choose to have their work painted over, rather than be used for commercial purposes.

“I have created hundreds of murals across the country for all manner of clients. I’m not at all opposed to development in general, but the work created as part of the Street Art Festival came from our souls, and was always meant to be freely accessible to the public,” artist Mickael Broth, known as the Night Owl, said in a statement. His mural of “The Witch” was painted at the RVA Street Art Festival in 2022.

“For it to be turned into a backdrop for a commercial enterprise completely debases the work. I know people will miss ‘The Witch’ mural if she goes away, but I’d rather see my work removed than see public access to it obstructed in any way,” he said.

Developers for the Padel Plant declined to comment on the mural controversy.

Emily Herr, with over 200 murals in Richmond, has never worked directly with the city on any projects.

“When you talk about support, I think what’s super important is just people saying yes,” said Herr. “One of the big ways that we need support is not even the money really but just like, can we do it?”

“Every artist that paints publicly has had to endure that process of trying to do something with the city, and it just takes unreasonably long for something that just could be done in a weekend,” said Silly Genius. “For us to maintain the sort of recognition that we’ve earned, that has to change.”