When people think of art and culture, most people’s minds end to go to bigger places like New York City or Los Angeles or Portland, but just because your city isn’t big, doesn’t mean it’s not rich in
When people think of art and culture, most people’s minds end to go to bigger places like New York City or Los Angeles or Portland, but just because your city isn’t big, doesn’t mean it’s not rich in art and music, dance, festivals, fashion, etc.
Take a look at Richmond. You can’t drive down many streets downtown anymore without seeing a mural sprawled across a building or restaurant. The annual Richmond Mural Project draws artists from all over the world and has grown every year.
And there’s certainly no shortage of live music here. You can go out every night of the week to different venues in our city and find the most diverse bands and musicians of all genres playing about town. Plays, musicals and exhibits are also always a constant source of entertainment here no matter what you’re into you can find a gallery or theatre that’s hosting something that appeals to your interests. And you can’t talk about art without mentioning VCU. The university’s arts program ranked first in the country for a public university art school.
Breweries are also sprouting up left and right along with cideries, meaderies and even some distilleries. Anyway, you get the point. Richmond’s art scene couldn’t be more vibrant and alive and its constantly growing and the cultural landscape is becoming something that others are starting to notice.
We recently topped Gogobot’s list of the 10 most artistic mid-sized cities in America. About time we received some credit!
Gogobot based the list on a city’s number of museums, art galleries, art schools, art supply stores, and number of performing arts venues. According to Gogobot, Richmond had the most museums out of the cities that ranked highest which included Boise, Idaho, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Dayton, Ohio, Pasadena, California, Santa Rosa, California, Ventura, California, Tacoma, Washington, Burbank, California and Berkeley, California.
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Carpenter Theatre and Gottwald Playhouse all received shoutouts. The Richmond Street Art Festival also gets a little mention.
Here’s what the travel research site had to say about our lovely city:
“The people of Richmond aren’t just passionate patrons of the arts, their love is both deep and wide. Richmond topped our list in terms of museums and performance venues, making it an excellent destination for both live and static art.”
