CultureWorks to champion arts in Richmond

At noon today, Richmond's arts community will officially have a new champion.

The people behind the scenes have been building up to the moment for years.

"I think it's the first arts group in the country where the director and the board chairman are both artists," said John Bryan, a painter who is the head of CultureWorks. The chairman is Brooks Smith, a lawyer and published writer.

The group takes the place of the Arts Council of Richmond as the area's clearinghouse for the arts community. The change was made as part of a series of recommendations in the Richmond Region Cultural Action Plan. The 111-page report by the national consulting firm WolfBrown was released in March after about two years of study. It included interviews with and recommendations from hundreds of artists and interested and associated individuals, corporations and entities throughout the area.

Bryan, Smith and other members of the arts community formally announced the creation of the group on the patio behind the Community Foundation. It legally becomes an entity this afternoon.

"The proof will be in the pudding," Bryan said when asked how his group would differ from its predecessor. "I'm not sure we've had an organization quite like this. There's no program of our own. We don't have a Folk Festival. We're the catalyst."

He said a big part of the mission is simply bringing people together.

"You'd think the director of the symphony would know the director of Gallery5, but that's not always the case," he said.

Though the board won't begin setting its priorities until today -- the 24 members are scheduled to spend the day together, getting to know one another before starting their work -- Bryan said socials will definitely be part of the mix.

"You get people together and they can meet over a glass of wine instead of over work," he said.

Tyrone Nelson, the pastor of Richmond's Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church and a member of the CultureWorks board, said the new group will bring together more than 150 volunteers working on more than 200 specific recommendations.

Calling it a great day, he said it was time to begin work on initiatives as simple as a unified area arts calendar and as important as finding ways for artists to connect with corporations.

Contact Zachary Reid at (804) 775-8179 or .