The first day of October landed perfectly on Richmond’s First Fridays this year! Needless to say, the sixth annual artoberVA is off to a great start.

Huge thanks to Gallery5 for hosting a cocktail hour on Friday to kick off artoberVA, complete with a signature (and delicious) artoberVA drink with a percentage of proceeds generously donated to CultureWorks. We enjoyed the ambiance, including live music, burlesque performances, art, and great company!

Just a block over, ART 180 hosted their own First Fridays event, Black is YOUth 365. This event centered around the powerful art and experiences youth in our community can create! We saw youth-led pop up shops filled with their own art, young artists and musicians, and a super cool augmented reality experience created by the Hidden in Plain Sight team. 

The 33rd annual 2nd Street Festival was also this weekend from Saturday - Sunday.

Held in the historic Jackson Ward, aka “The Harlem of the South”, the 2nd Street Festival celebrated the heart and soul of African American culture. With two full days of live music, vendors, food stalls, and dance performances, the 2nd Street Festival was a beautiful reminder that arts and culture truly lives and thrives everywhere we are.

The rest of artoberVA will include a variety of theatre performances, art installations, music festivals, pop-up shops, and other family friendly events. We have plenty of arts and culture events lined up for the coming weeks in October. Head over to our Arts and Culture Calendar each day to discover events and experiences across the Region. 

Remember to tag us @artoberVA on social media and be sure to use the hashtag, #artoberVA for a chance to be featured on our social media channels!