Riley Bridges, 5, is one of many participants in the First African Baptist Church’s Music and Fine Arts Black History program on Sunday, Feb. 11.

The site of the former Oak Grove Elementary School has been vacant since January 2013 when Oak Grove-Bellemeade Elementary opened its doors. The Redeemer Assembly of Jesus Christ originally lost its bid of $275,000 to purchase the site after a City Council vote in August 2022. In September 2022, City Council approved Lynx Ventures’s request to purchase the site for $500,000.

The property, located at 2200 Ingram Ave., will become income-restricted apartments and 15 new for-sale residences. The project is estimated to cost $45 million, with $20 million in government tax credits and other resources to finance the development.

Daffodils in South Side

The VMFA’s sixth annual public art project once again commemorates Black History Month with an art installation that unites local artists and the community to pay tribute to individuals who positively impact the Metro Richmond community. This year’s RVA 2024 Community Makers Unveiling took place at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts on Feb. 15. Lucretia Anderson (right) shares a photo opportunity with Elvatrice Parker Belsches (left). Ms. Belsches, a 2024 Community Makers honoree, is a public historian, archival researcher, lecturer, author, and filmmaker renowned for her lectures on the Black experience in history, both locally and nationally. She authored “Black America Series: Richmond, Virginia” and has received numerous awards for her work.

The Sisters of the Yam African American Quilters Guild, a Richmond-based group founded in 2001 with a mission centered on the healing power of fabric and the preservation of quilting as an art form, were special guests at the Community Makers event. Group members include, from left, Mary Lauderdale, Janice Braggs, Grace McClendon, Cheryl Jarrett and Faye Greene.

The RVA 2024 Community Makers project creator and lead artist, Hamilton Glass, discusses the project that involved working with fellow Richmond artist Unicia Buster, to honor, through tapestry and quilting, community members whose contributions have uplifted and celebrated African American narratives.

Ms. Buster, a textile artist, primarily working in fiber to create art quilts and soft sculptures, also engages in acrylic painting and mixed media.

Ana F. Edwards, a public historian, is recognized as a RVA 2024 Community Makers honoree. Ms. Edwards and her husband, Phil Wilayto, are two of four co-founders of the Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality, an all-volunteer, anti-racist, internationalist, social justice activism group. The couple also founded the Defenders’ Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project, to promote the history, reclamation, and memorialization of Gabriel’s Rebellion and Richmond’s first municipal African Burial Ground.

J. Dontrese Brown (right), a 2024 Community Maker honoree, engages in conversation with Gary Garbett (left), a student in Mr. Brown’s master’s of mass communications program at VCU. Mr. Brown, recently co-founded “Hidden In Plain Site,” a virtual reality exploration highlighting overlooked sites across the nation that narrate the Black experience throughout American history.