The City, Venture Richmond Cut Ribbon on Art Project Collaboration

By Yaba Ahounou

RICHMOND, Va. - The City of Richmond and Venture Richmond cut the ribbon on Nov. 17 on 200 W Marshall St. for a three-part placemaking project between the Historic Jackson Ward neighborhood and the Arts District.

The project includes a pedestrian plaza, a custom-design parklet and a street mural promoting community through art at the intersection of Brook Road and West Marshall Street.

The city and Venture Richmond worked with local organizations including ART 180, Gallery5 and Walter Parks Architect. City officials applied for a $25,000 Bloomberg Philanthropies grant in 2020 to pay for the parklet. In order to qualify, they needed to plan some form of street art, said Vaughn Garland, director of ART 180’s community programs and partnerships.

“Having a place for the Jackson Ward community to gather, enjoy art and interact with one another is vital for our neighborhood's general health,” said Prabir Mehta, board of directors’ chair of Gallery5.

The parklet was initially built to provide a temporary public space for residents in the Art District and Jackson Ward neighborhood. Walter Park Architects entered the Park(ing) Day competition, a one-day, global project to repurpose street parking. Venture Richmond organized the event in 2019.

The parklet on Brook Road in front of Art180. It was built by WPA, Richmond Venture and Art180 to provide public space for the community to relax and lounge. The photo was taken by Yaba Ahounou.

“We were excited to try and create an engaging but temporary public space,” said Sean Wheeler, a project manager with the architecture firm. “Although all of the installations only lasted a day, the transformations and interactions within those creative spaces sparked hope for a more permanent placemaking.”

Garland said a total of 13 people from ART 180 painted the roughly 35-by-42 feet intersection street mural earlier this fall. The mural depicts a green and black bird in a red and yellow background moving forward while looking back to retrieve a round object. It’s based on a Sankofa, a specific Andikran symbol from the Akan tribe of Ghana, which translates to “go back and retrieve,” according to the National Park Service.

The street mural on the intersection of Brook Road and West Marshall Street. It has a Sankofa in the middle painted in black, green, red and yellow with the first three colors representing the Pan-African flag. This ties with Jackson Ward being a majority Back neighborhood. The photo was taken by Yaba Ahounou.

Local artist Chris Visions designed the mural in tribute to Jackson Ward’s rich history and its enduring mission to carry on the legacy of Black excellence, according to press release.

Jackson Ward was once populated by many freed and former slaves during Reconstruction and became one of the most active centers for African Americans by 1920, according to VCU digital documents. When city and state officials designed the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike in the 1950s, it divided the neighborhood. Residents left more gradually as time went on.

“There’s a lot of unfortunate situations that happened in that neighborhood, at the same time, there’s a lot of incredible history that could be celebrated,” Garland said.