Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Art museum in Richmond
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| December 31 2024 | Dr. Danny Avula was sworn in as Mayor of Richmond, succeeding Levar Stoney. |
| 2023 | Richmond International Airport broke its passenger record with 4.8 million passengers, surpassing the previous record of 4.4 million set in 2019. |
| 2022 | The museum acquired 'Portrait of a Creole Woman with Madras Tignon' at auction for $948,000, adding a piece reflective of French and Spanish colonial heritage. |
| December 12 2022 | Richmond removes the final Confederate statue, honoring Confederate General A. P. Hill, concluding the city's systematic removal of Confederate monuments. |
| December 2021 | Thermo Fisher Scientific acquired the contract research organization PPD, establishing its presence in the Richmond area. |
| June 2021 | Announced a $190 million expansion project with architectural firm SmithGroup, which includes renovations to Evans Court and Leslie Cheek Theater. |
| 2020 | Local artist Hamilton Glass initiated the Mending Walls Project in response to the George Floyd protests, featuring collaborative murals by pairs of local artists. |
| 2020 | Richmond public school district reported an on-time graduation rate of 71.6%, which was the lowest in the state of Virginia. |
| July 2020 | July recorded as one of the warmest months in Richmond's climate history, averaging 82.9°F. |
| June 2020 | Confederate statues in Richmond begin to be removed during the George Floyd protests, representing a major shift in the city's historical memorialization. |
| 2019 | Installed the sculpture 'Rumors of War' on the museum's front lawn facing Arthur Ashe Boulevard, after its previous display in Times Square. |
| September 27 2019 | The 'Rumors of War' sculpture was unveiled in Richmond, positioned near the Confederate monument of Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue, making a powerful artistic statement about representation and historical narratives. |
| 2018 | The Richmond Kickers left the USL to become founders in Division 3 Soccer. |
| 2018 | Steven Holl designs and opens the VCU Institute for Contemporary Art. |
| June 2018 | GRTC Pulse bus rapid transit system opened, running along Broad Street from Willow Lawn to its destination, marking a significant improvement in public transportation infrastructure. |
| April 2018 | Church president Russell M. Nelson announced a new temple to be built in Virginia. |
| January 7 2018 | Richmond experienced its most recent subzero temperature reading on this date. |
| January 2 2018 | The Mellon Galleries closed for renovations, with a scheduled reopening in 2020. |
| December 15 2017 | Most Reverend Barry C. Knestout was appointed bishop by Pope Francis. |
| 2016 | Kehinde Wiley had a retrospective exhibition of his artwork held at the museum in Richmond. |
| 2016 | Levar Stoney began his term as Mayor of Richmond. |
| 2015 | Richmond hosted the UCI Road World Championships, featuring cyclists from 76 countries and generating an estimated $158.1 million economic impact for the Greater Richmond Region. |
| 2015 | The Richmond Black Widows, the city's first women's football team, were founded by Sarah Schkeeper and joined the Women's Football Alliance. |
| July 2015 | MeadWestvaco merged with Rock-Tenn Company to create WestRock Company. |
| 2014 | The museum commissioned artist Kehinde Wiley to create a major public sculpture called 'Rumors of War', which was designed to challenge historical Confederate monuments in Richmond. |
| 2014 | James River Distillery was established in Richmond. |
| 2014 | U.S. Department of Transportation granted Richmond approximately $25 million for the GRTC Pulse bus rapid transit system development. |
| 2013 | Belle Isle Craft Spirits was established in Richmond. |
| 2013 | RVA Street Art Festival was held, contributing to Richmond's mural landscape with works by regional and international artists like PoseMSK, Jeff Soto, and Mark Jenkins. |
| 2012 | Richmond's public schools were rated 16 of America's best high schools. |
| 2011 | By this year, the VMFA Fellowship Program had delivered over $5 million in grants, with 1,250 awards to Virginia artists since its inception. Fellowships were primarily funded through the Pratt endowment and supplemented by gifts from the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation and the J. Warwick McClintic Jr. Scholarship Fund. |
| 2011 | The Leslie Cheek Theater was renovated and reopened as part of the museum, now hosting a range of live performance events. |
| February 19 2011 | Began exhibiting 176 paintings from Pablo Picasso's personal collection, spanning his entire career, in ten galleries of the newly renovated museum. The exhibition ran until May 15, 2011. |
| 2010 | The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts began a significant expansion project that would dramatically transform the museum's physical space and exhibition capabilities. |
| 2010 | A 27-ton marble late-Mughal garden pavilion from Rajasthan was installed inside the museum's galleries. |
| 2010 | The new McGlothlin Wing opened, expanding the museum's gallery space by fifty percent and reinstating the original 1936 Boulevard entrance. |
| 2010 | Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts, a public charter school, was founded in Richmond. |
| 2010 | Reservoir Distillery was founded in Richmond. |
| April 15 2010 | The Richmond Flying Squirrels opened their first season at The Diamond baseball stadium. |
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