Cville’s Tom Tom Founders Fest opens call for “Moving Mural” artists

by | Sep 1, 2016 | ART

Charlottesville’s Tom Tom Fest has become a pretty neat gem in home of two former presidents. And now the arts and music fest is getting ready for their 2017 event

Charlottesville’s Tom Tom Fest has become a pretty neat gem in home of two former presidents. And now the arts and music fest is getting ready for their 2017 event

Tom Tom is the product of a lot of hard work, but it’s spirit lies in the fledgling creative community which has started to call Charlottesville its home. Paul Beyer, creator of the fest, is proud to be a part of that. His hard work has paid off with as many as 17,000 attendees who came out to Tom Tom last year.

“I think Charlottesville has been seen as a retirement community – it’s pretty, it’s historic, it’s a nice tourist destination… but it hasn’t been seen as a vital place to make art or start a business,” Beyer told RVAMag back in 2015. “If you’re graduating UVA, is this a place where you start a tech firm? An interesting project? And is this a community who supports that? And I think, in the last few years, its a narrative that has started to take hold.”

And if you’re an artist, you can get in on the narrative by submitting your work for their open call. Check out details below via Tom Tom:

Tom Tom is teaming up with Charlottesville Area Transit to bring you two art competitions this fall. The annual Art Bus serves as a moving mural and operates on bus lines around Charlottesville and Albemarle County. The winning design will be seen by 200,000+ people throughout the year. For 2017, we’re looking for a whimsical and energetic design for the digital wrap that will cover the entire city bus. For more details on the Art Bus competition and a Transit Shelter Art Competition, please visit the art competitions page.

Brad Kutner

Brad Kutner

Brad Kutner is the former editor of GayRVA and RVAMag from 2013 - 2017. He’s now the Richmond Bureau Chief for Radio IQ, a state-wide NPR outlet based in Roanoke. You can reach him at BradKutnerNPR@gmail.com




more in art

IllumiNATION Tells America’s Story on a Monumental Scale

Editor’s Note: RVA Magazine is partnering with the Virginia Museum of History & Culture on coverage related to America’s 250th anniversary, including Richmond SailFest and IllumiNation. It's hard to impress people with just a building. Yet standing in front of the...

Blöthar: “GWAR Didn’t Change. The World Freakin Changed.”

Richmond metal band GWAR says the Secret Service contacted the group following a recent performance at the Vans Warped Tour in Washington, D.C., that featured the mock execution of a Donald Trump effigy. Video of the performance, which showed band members...

Review | ‘Come From Away’ is the Best We’ve Ever Been

Do you remember the rollerblading guy with the American flag kit on September 12th? We will never forget the 11th for the horrors, but do you remember the 12th? The 13th? If you do, I don’t even have to say which year. If you don’t, let me tell you a little bit about...

Before Richmond Was an Arts City, There Was Best Products

Imagine pulling into a suburban shopping center to buy a toaster and finding a department store that appeared to be falling apart with corners breaking away, walls peeling open like a giant cardboard box, or facades seemingly collapsing under their own weight. For...

Review | ‘I Love You Because’ Is Pure Joy 🏳️‍🌈

It could be said that Shakespeare invented the rom-com. It could also be said that Jane Austen improved it a couple of centuries later. Between the two of them, meet-cutes, notices of love or rejection arriving at exactly the wrong time, and breathless affirmations of...

Stay Hungry pt. 1 | Band on the Road

Editor's Note: Writer's Block is a space for Virginia writers to share personal essays, fiction, memoir, and works that fall somewhere in between. In Stay Hungry, Richmond local Eric Kalata looks back on a cross-country tour and the restless optimism of...

Local, Latino and A New Richmond Cosmos

Tucked into the alley behind 2512 West Main Street, a fever dream of the cosmos has taken shape across a brick wall. The mural is the collaborative work of four Latino artists working in and around Richmond: Visibly Hidden, Monolith, Mars, and Sol. A distant Earth...

‘Songs of Truth’ Brings Sojourner Truth to the Hippodrome

Editor's Note: For more on the life and legacy of Sojourner Truth, read Christian Detres' companion essay HERE. This has been an inspirational season for Richmond’s homegrown theatre. We are following up the sold-out run of Witchduck with the mid-project musical...