Art as Infrastructure: Richmond's Creative Economy

Richmond's arts and culture scene is an engine for community building and economic growth. From murals that transform neighborhoods to markets that incubate small creative businesses to studios that train the next generation of working artists, Richmond's creative community has been doing ecosystem-building work for decades.

This session brings together the artists, organizers, and creative entrepreneurs shaping that work to discuss economic development through an arts lens: how public art projects build community trust and drive investment, how creative markets function as small business incubators, and how studio and gallery spaces create pathways into sustainable creative careers. We want attendees to leave understanding Richmond's arts scene not as a cultural amenity, but as a model for how creative practice and entrepreneurship reinforce each other.