Outcomes
Two working groups have emerged from The Future of Richmond’s Past planning team:
External Audience Development Working Group
The External Audience Development Working Group has advanced the following recommendations:
- City Walking Tours that are guided or that visitors may take as self-guided would offer visitors and Richmond citizens opportunities to learn about the rich history throughout the City.
- Way-finding and Interpretative Signage that would direct visitors to Richmond historic sites and provide information about the site itself.
- River City Ambassadors (a program modeled after the “Good Neighbor” program adopted by a number of tourist destination cities) would offer opportunities for those who come in contact with visitors to learn more about Richmond’s history and current events and programs being offered.
- Linking SOLs and Cultural Resources would provide additional opportunities for students in the class to learn about history within the City of Richmond and identify how they meet SOL curriculum requirements.
- Master Calendar Portals would allow the more than seventeen calendars of major cultural organizations to be combined into one or two calendars so visitors and residents could better determine what events are taking place on a particular day or period.
Membership of the External Audience Development Working Group:
- Christy Coleman, American Civil War Center
- Maureen Elgersman Lee, Black History Museum and Cultural Center
- Rachel Flynn, City of Richmond
- Jack Berry, Richmond Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau
- David Ruth, Richmond Battlefield National Park and Maggie L. Walker Historic Site
Richmond History Working Group
The Richmond History Working Group is focusing its work on how Richmond should tell its story and portray its history throughout the 150th anniversary years. A series of Community Conversations will be held to develop an on-going dialogue around three key questions: What historical moment has shaped your thoughts or feelings about the City of Richmond? If you were writing the history of Richmond and its people and places, what stories are left out? What important moments should be included?
Membership of the Richmond History Working Group:
- Delores McQuinn, Chair
- Paige Chargois, Richmond Baptist Ministers Association
- Ana Edwards, Sacred Ground Reclamation Project
- John T. Kneebone, Virginia Commonwealth university
- Paul Levengood, Virginia Historical Society
- William J. Martin, Richmond Valentine History Center
- Waite Rawls, III, The Museum of the Confederacy
- Sandra G. Treadway, Library of Virginia
