CULTURE




more in culture

The Byrd Theatre Is Still Richmond’s Palace of Dreams

Christmas Eve, 1928. Richmond is cold and the city is dressed for the holiday. On West Cary Street, a crowd gathers outside a building that wasn't there six months ago; a French Empire facade rising up in the middle of a neighborhood that had no idea it was about to...

Homegrown Stories Isn’t Content, It’s a Shared Experience

This Friday, March 27, a different sort of experimental prompt video event will showcase a collection of work made for Homegrown Stories. In the early days of RVA Magazine, that space existed through Project Resolution, a monthly prompt-based series that gave new...

Remembering WRIR Founders and Leaders in a Year of Loss

Over the past six months, three people foundational to WRIR 97.3 FM, Richmond’s volunteer-run station built outside the expectations of corporate radio, rooted in a love of music, giving locals a voice, and creating space where there wasn’t any, have died. All from...

No Red Carpet, Just Films! James River Film Festival Is Back

Every spring, I look forward to one of Richmond’s best film traditions, the James River Film Festival. With the mantra “Eclectic Celluloid for the Cinematic Soul,” the James River Film Society curates programs spanning a wide range of subjects and styles. It’s always...

Babe Improv Might Be The Funniest Thing in Richmond Right Now

There’s a moment during a Babe Improv set where you realize two things at once. First, they have no idea what they’re about to do next. Second, it’s all going to work out somehow. That tightrope is what makes it work, and when you have two people this in sync, it...

Hemp Retailers Say New Virginia Cannabis Law Would Shut Them Down

With a major cannabis bill now awaiting Governor Abigail Spanberger’s decision, Virginia hemp retailers, farmers, and small business advocates are urging her to step in before it becomes law. The Cannabis Small Business Association (CSBA) and a coalition of hemp...

Babe Improv Might Be The Funniest Thing in Richmond Right Now

There’s a moment during a Babe Improv set where you realize two things at once. First, they have no idea what they’re about to do next. Second, it’s all going to work out somehow. That tightrope is what makes it work, and when you have two people this in sync, it turns into something genuinely laugh-out-loud entertaining. Richmond duo Babe...

Read More

Babe-Improv-by-R.-Anthony-Harris_RVA-Magazine-2026

Hemp Retailers Say New Virginia Cannabis Law Would Shut Them Down

With a major cannabis bill now awaiting Governor Abigail Spanberger’s decision, Virginia hemp retailers, farmers, and small business advocates are urging her to step in before it becomes law. The Cannabis Small Business Association (CSBA) and a coalition of hemp businesses are calling on the governor to use her amendatory authority to revise key...

Read More

Virginia-Hemp-by-R-Anthony-Harris_photo-by-Elsa-Olofsson_RVA-Magazine-2026

Riverfront Music Returns! Allianz Amphitheater 2026 Lineup Drops

Richmond’s riverfront concert season is set to return next month, with more than a dozen shows already announced for the 2026 lineup at Allianz Amphitheater with more to come. The venue, which opened in 2025, is entering its second full season with a schedule that runs from mid-April through late September and spans rock, country, pop,...

Read More

Allianz-Amphitheater-lineup_photo-by-Joey-Wharton_RVA-Magazine-2026

Recreational Cannabis Retail System Approved by Virginia Legislature

Virginia lawmakers have approved legislation that would create a legal retail market for recreational cannabis in the Commonwealth, ending years of uncertainty after possession was legalized but sales remained illegal.  The bill passed the General Assembly on the final day of the 2026 legislative session, with the House voting 64–32 and the...

Read More

Virgnia-Cannabis-Law_Jeff-White_RVA-Magazine-2026

The Man Who Sold Richmond on a Flying Squirrel

Editor’s note: With Richmond’s new CarMax Park opening soon, it felt like the right time to revisit how the Flying Squirrels first took root in the city. We had the chance to speak with Chuck Domino, the veteran minor league baseball operator during that transition. Photo of Chuck Domino (left) and Todd "Parney" Parnell (right) When Richmond’s...

Read More

Chuck Domino_Richmond Flying Squirrels by R Anthony Harris_RVA Magazine 2026

I Was To Inherit A Capitalist Nation

The ceilings were all collapsing. The moldering roof was seeping through to the drywall and paint inside. What was once a small emerald speck of mold above the shower had turned into a fuzzy kaleidoscope of blacks and pinks and grays and greens that coated the entire top of the room and filled it with a smell so pungent that I couldn’t spend more...

Read More

American Dream Essay by Eric Kalata_photo Bruno Guerrero_RVA Magazine 2026