Editor’s Note: RVA Magazine is proud to partner with Virginia PrideFest, happening this Saturday, September 12, and to produce the annual Pride Guide celebrating Richmond and Virginia’s LGBTQ+ community. You can download the 2026 Pride Guide HERE. We’d also like to...
“Ross is an incredible asset to this city. He’s helped small businesses stand out with that much-needed glow—always delivered with a sharp eye and a soft touch. He can make your coffee shop look classic or your record store look clean and intentional. He’ll knock out a massive mural for some corporate scumbags just to turn around and use the...
"You have to be delusional to be an artist." That’s how Peter Cochrane closes our conversation. We’re sitting across from each other in a quiet Richmond studio, the air thick with pollen and thought. The line lands not as a punchline but as a thesis offered without irony. What does it mean to believe in a practice that resists productivity...
Local community arts organization Studio Two Three has had a previously approved federal grant rescinded by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), according to an email received this week. The grant, totaling $30,000, had been awarded for programming planned for the 2025 calendar year. In the email addressed to Kate Elizabeth Fowler, the NEA...
If you walk into the 2025 VCUarts MFA Thesis Exhibition expecting a finale or a big conclusion, prepare to encounter something else—something quieter and less resolved. A residue. A gesture mid-motion. An echo. When I walked into the opening reception on April 11, I was immediately haunted by my own MFA thesis exhibition from a year ago. I walked...
We’re probably past the point of sugarcoating where we are in America. The fear of authoritarian creep isn’t a fear anymore. Checks and balances, once the pride of our democracy, are failing. Congress has either abdicated its responsibilities or stood by in polite horror as the walls come crashing down. People are being disappeared into an El...
For the third year running, the Richmond Animation Festival returns to The Byrd Theatre with its signature mix of experimental flair, international shorts, and creative community energy. What started as a modest gathering of animation lovers has quietly evolved into one of the city’s most anticipated niche cultural events. Set for Sunday night,...
“Children walk into school with guns and execute their classmates and teachers. And we just say, ‘There’s nothing we can do about it.’” That line from my recent conversation with Randy Blythe hit me the hardest. And I have a high tolerance for pain. As I was writing this piece, a gunman walked into Florida State University and killed two...
The curtain comes down on Stay Gold: 20 Years of RVA Magazine & Gallery5 this Friday. Huge thanks to everyone who packed the place at the opening earlier this month. Big thank you to PLF, RVA Moon Market, Gallery5, Gull, Sweet Potatoes, No BS! Brass Band and The Head & The Heart's Rivers and Roads Foundation for partnering with us on this...
The Big Dipper Innovation Summit kicked off today, and if you’re not here yet, well, you’re already behind. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill business event—it’s where culture and business smash together in ways that actually mean something. Skeptical? We get it. But when these worlds collide, the opportunities are real. This is the spot to start...
