A renaissance of the city’s cultural landscape.
When Florida born-and-raised artist and entrepreneur Rod Givens arrived in Petersburg 13 years ago, the city’s cultural life was meager at best.
“The art scene was really nonexistent,” says Givens. All that changed within several years with the launch of the city’s monthly Friday for the Arts! series, a celebration of the arts with more than 20 participating venues,mostly around the charming but fast-gentrifying neighborhood called Old Towne.
“It was very exciting in the beginning, with people filling the streets and walking from gallery to gallery. If shows are well advertised, people do come out and even come from Richmond and surrounding areas,” says Givens, a co-owner with Ignatius Creegan of handmade millinery Ignatius Hats on Market Street.
The renaissance of Petersburg’s cultural landscape comes on the coattails of the city’s resurgence as a hub for dining, shopping and tourism, says Russell Kvasnicka, a president of the Petersburg Area Art League. The nonprofit is the driving force behind Friday for the Arts! and has worked to “empower the community through the visual arts” since 1932.
Today, more than half a dozen art galleries are scattered along Sycamore, Bollingbrook and Old Streets—a sign that Petersburg is on its way to becoming an arts town, says Kvasnicka. “There could be a lot more, but we are taking baby steps,” he says.
One of the city’s biggest challenges remains to lure more artists to live and work in one of the many lofts in the former tobacco warehouses.
A 2015 study funded by the Petersburg-based Cameron Foundation found that among more than 700 surveyed Virginia-based artists, at least 105 expressed interest in relocating to Petersburg.
“I would like to see Petersburg’s art community become more like Richmond’s and to become a destination place,” says Kvasnicka. FridayForTheArts.net
For even more on the rising cultural scene in Petersburg, be sure to check out the feature article from our April 2018 issue. Click here to read more.
