RVA Street Art Festival

On the heels of last month’s massive Richmond Mural Project came last weekend’s second annual RVA Street Art Festival. With so many creative projects underway lately, it’s safe to say that Richmond is a city that definitely loves its art. This year’s Street Art Festival took place at the former GRTC Bus Depot, a facility that was originally built to house the city’s trolley cars in 1888, but has remained vacant since 2009. About 30 local and internationally-acclaimed artists were invited to cover the depot’s 5.5 acres of well-worn wall space. The atmosphere at the festival was incredible and it was amazing to see this abandoned area given new life through art and a vibrant crowd – more than 1,000 strong – who came out to support the project. Aside from murals, artists featured sculptures and an array of mixed-media art. This year’s RVA Street Art Festival was a hugely ambitious project, and one we are proud to host in our city. The murals will remain on site at the facility at least until 2016, when GRTC is scheduled to sell the property. But we’re holding out hope that the murals will remain much longer and become a permanent fixture in our city.