Artsline || Jun 13, 2022
“Understanding history is one of many ways to break the cycle. Lift up/amplify Black voices. Support Black owned businesses. Reach back. Mentor.” ~ Chadwick Boseman
What are you doing for Juneteenth? What are you doing to break the cycle of racism? What can you do to amplify Black voices and art and culture in RVA? This week there’s plenty of opportunity – from music to dance to history – Richmond artists bring stories and art to celebrate Black freedom. Check out ways to engage your community below!
To list your events on Artsline, go to vpm.org/artsline.
1. (RE)FRAMING HOPE: DESIGN + PROTEST
Visual Art
Friday, June 17 – Sunday, September 11
The Branch Museum of Architecture & Design, 2501 Monument Avenue, Richmond, 23220
Pay what you wish
Creative expression and design – both directly and indirectly – influenced Richmond activists, artists, organizers, and others who mobilized during the summer of 2020 to collectively respond to communal trauma, systemic racism, and amplify the Black Lives Matter movement. In their creative output, we see the anger and anguish of a city, but also the vibrant and visceral hope for healing. The Branch Museum of Architecture & Design brings (re)Framing Protest, in partnership with Richmond Free Press photojournalists Regina Boone and Sandra Sellars, to offer a framework exploring tactics such as graffiti and graphic design that give voice to traumatic social unrest while also becoming a transformative blueprint for unexpected placemaking and community building. No registration required.
2. A CELEBRATION OF JAZZ WITH VICTOR HASKINS & SKEIN
Music
Wednesday, June 15, 7:30pm
Perkinson Center for the Arts & Education, 11810 Centre Street, Chester, 23831
Pay what you can
In celebration of Juneteenth, Perkinson Center for the Arts & Education and Chesterfield County brings Victor Haskins & SKEIN to share some of Victor’s original music, as well as some of those tunes we all know and love. Victor Haskins is a multi-instrumentalist, multidisciplinary artist, international performer, composer, improviser, bandleader, and educator. Haskins creates transformative, sound-based works which channel the power of human connection, immediacy, and inventiveness to engage with time and space. Reserve tickets online.
3. THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF EMILY WINFREE: FROM ENSLAVEMENT TO CARNEGIE HALL
History, Literary Art
Thursday, June 16, 6pm
Virginia Museum of History & Culture, 428 North Arthur Ashe Boulevard, Richmond, 23220
The Virginia Museum of History & Culture brings author Jan Meck for a thoughtful talk and discussion of her new book, The Life and Legacy of Enslaved Virginian Emily Winfree, which tells the true story of an African American woman who was the embodiment of courage, love, and determination. Given a small cottage after the Civil War by her former master and father of her children, Winfree raised her family through the hardest of times, always keeping them together. The author will be joined during the program by moderator Joseph Rogers, Manager of Partnerships & Community Engagement at the VMHC, Dr. Emily Jones, great-great-granddaughter of Emily Winfree, and Ana Edwards, Public Historian, Chair of the Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project. You must register to attend in-person. Live-streaming available on YouTube and Facebook.
4. VASHTI DANCE & SRI SAI DANCE ACADEMY
Dance
Friday, June 17, 7pm
Saturday, June 18, 3pm & 7pm
Dogtown Dance Theatre, 109 West 15th Street, Richmond, 23224
$20 Admission | $15 Students, Military, Seniors
Dogtown Dance Theatre’s touring artist series is the latest in Dogtown’s dance performance programming. It pairs local dance artists with out-of-town dance artists with similar themes into a split bill. Vashti Dance Theater: Embodying Legacy explores the acts of resistance against muting cultural identity embodied as gems of memory in African-American music and dance traditions. Sri Sai Dance Academy brings the scintillating rhythms and melodies of T. S. Gopal's compositions as explored through the language of Kuchipudi dance - vibrant footwork patterns, delicate gestures, divine expressions, and its characteristic dramatic flair - including dancing on the rims of a brass plate. Purchase tickets online.
5. RPAA'S ALTERNATE ROUTES: A NIGHT IN NASHVILLE GALA & BENEFIT CONCERT
Music
Thursday, June 16, 6pm
Dominion Energy Center: 600 East Grace Street; Richmond, 23219
Concert Tickets: $27-$37
Gala Tickets: $250
Mark your calendar and dust off your boots – the Richmond Performing Arts Alliance (RPAA) is throwing a Nash Bash, featuring Cassadee Pope as headlining artist! Proceeds from this event benefit RPAA's mission to advance the performing arts in the Richmond region through programs and resources that support the artists of today, nurture the artists of tomorrow, and provide spaces for the arts to thrive. Purchase CONCERT ONLY tickets or GALA tickets online.
6. COLLECTIVE RAGE: A PLAY IN 5 BETTIES
Theatre
Thursdays – Saturdays, 8pm and Sundays, 4pm
Runs through July 2
Richmond Triangle Player’s Robert B. Moss Theatre, 1300 Altamont Avenue, Richmond, 23230
$10-35
Richmond Triangle Players presents one of the zaniest rides you have ever experienced! Betty is rich. Betty is lonely. Betty’s busy working on her truck. Betty wants to talk about love, but Betty needs to hit something. And Betty keeps using a small hand mirror to stare into parts of herself she’s never examined. Five different women named Betty collide at the intersection of anger, sex, and the “Thea-Tah” in this outrageously funny and moving play. Never in recent memory has such wild subject matter been presented with such humor, panache. flair — and glitter! Purchase tickets online.
7. WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
Film
Saturday, June 18, 10am
The Byrd Theatre, 2908 West Cary Street, Richmond, 23221
$5
The Byrd Theatre brings the 1971 classic Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factor to their Family Classics Series. Synopsis: A sweet boy from a poor family dreams of finding one of five golden tickets hidden inside chocolate bar wrappers which will admit him to the eccentric and reclusive Willy Wonka's magical factory. One after another, tickets are discovered by ghastly children - but will the lad find the last remaining one and have all his dreams come true? Purchase tickets online.
8. COMMON SCENTS: A GARDEN STILL HOUSE DEMONSTRATION
History, Landscape Art
Friday, June 17, noon
Agecroft Hall & Gardens, 4305 Sulgrave Road, Richmond, 23221
Admission: $10 Adults | $9 Seniors | $6 Students | 6 & under free
Learn how perfumes would have been made at Agecroft Hall! Explore the luscious gardens of Agecroft and see the variety of herbs and flowers that were grown in 17th century England. See, smell and touch the variety of plants grown for culinary and medicinal purposes. Experience the mysterious art of distilling by observing Rebecca Suerdieck, a costumed educator who will demonstrate the process. Rebecca will be in the gardens from 12:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. and guests are encouraged to visit and learn from her during that time. Presentation free with admission. Purchase admission online.
9. JUBILATION IN JUNE – FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS
Music, History, Culture
Friday, June 17, 8pm at Dogwood Dell, 6000 North Arthur Ashe Boulevard, Richmond, 23220
Saturday, June 18 at 17th Street Market, 100 North 17th Street, Richmond, 23219
Sunday, June 19 at Rockett’s Landing, 5000 Old Osborne Turnpike, Richmond, 23231
Join Pine Camp Cultural Arts and Community Center and Richmond Recreation & Parks to celebrate the entire weekend of Juneteenth. Jubilation in June features performances from Elegba Folklore Society, local artist Bee Boisseau, and national recording artists The Hamiltones performing from their album “1964.” Friday night, Dogwood Dell kicks off RVA’s Festival of the Arts 2022 with a concert from the Legacy Band! The weekend concludes with fireworks at Rockett’s Landing beginning at 9:15 p.m. No reservations required.
10. VMFA DANCE AFTER WORK – HIP-HOP LINE-DANCING
Dance, Music, Visual Art
Friday, June 17, 6pm
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 200 North Arthur Ashe Boulevard, Richmond, 23220
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts brings Gerald Andrews to get your body moving. Following up on the VMFA’s previous conversation on hip-hop’s collision with line-dancing, Gerald brings energy and passion for the dance to VMFA’s Robins Sculpture Garden. No registration required.
If you are an arts or cultural organization with lectures, exhibitions, performances, or even book readings, submit your events to Artsline here.
If you are an artist or an arts or cultural organization in need of resources and tools, check out the list of local and national resources from Richmond CultureWorks.
Richmond Performing Arts Alliance, Richmond Triangle Players, and the Virginia Museum of History & Culture are sponsors of VPM.
