Riverviews’ Impact
Riverviews confirms the role of art in regional revitalization, contributes to the creative and intellectual life of the Lynchburg community, and energizes and is energized by the cultural infrastructure of Central Virginia.
Since opening in 2003, Riverviews Artspace has been an integral presence in the revitalization of Lynchburg. Riverviews is located on the corner of Jefferson and 9th Streets; Jefferson Street is on the riverfront 9th Street intersects downtown Lynchburg. Riverviews is on the western end of the bluff overlooking the James River Park, new parklands along the river. The City of Lynchburg has began to develop “Bluffwalk” a pedestrian link between the Bluffwalk Center (reuse of a brick warehouse structures for hotel, restaurants and entertainment uses) at one end and Riverviews Artspace, Amazement Square (Children’s museum) and the Human Services Complex at the other.
Riverviews was the first building downtown to re-adapt to live/work use. Since opening, four other warehouse and industrial spaces have been adapted to residential living; one other building was converted into artist studios. The city of Lynchburg currently forecasts 176 new residential units will open downtown.
Since the building opened in October 2003, over 40 artists have rented live/work or studio spaces in the building. Our unique mixed-use space for tenants, artists, and visitors has had a tangible role in revitalizing an urban city center and in developing opportunities for artist and their patrons. Our building supports four broad groups of artists, each which contributes and gains something different: 1) long term tenants who enjoy the community of a group/studio gallery; 2) long-term tenants with private studios/residences who enjoy working in solitude 3) emerging artists who want to raise their public profile and network with an established arts community; and 4) short-term tenants who grow out of their space and open galleries in other parts of Lynchburg. We consider this latter group our ‘missionaries’ who spread the ‘news’—art galleries improve community life!
Riverviews tenants initiated First Fridays—one night a month when all the artists are in their studios. We typically have music in the CT Gallery and art activities. This event quickly spread to other cultural organizations in town. Soon downtown art groups and restaurants engaged a historical trolley to run a loop for three hours. This trolley is now funded by a grant by the Greater Lynchburg Community Trust. People now park their cars and ride public transportation to 12 different galleries with a total distance of 8 miles.
Riverviews is the center for contemporary art in Central Virginia, and over 100 individual artists have shown since we opened our doors. Exhibiting contemporary art in the C-T Gallery provides an opportunity for people to experience trends in emerging art and attracts many visitors who then discover the building tenant artists and artist co-op gallery. Drop-in traffic has increased, especially among parents of young children who are across the street at Amazement Square. Being part of the visual landscape of downtown Lynchburg is very important to both raise awareness about our existence and to foster civic pride in the vast diversity of the cultural offerings downtown.
The Riverviews project will generate an estimated 60 person-years of construction employment, and construction income, as well as new permanent jobs and state income jobs. In addition, 36 new households will provide disposable income for nearby retailers. The project’s commercial components will generate direct impacts such as jobs and retail sales taxes and indirect impacts such as the purchase of supplies to conduct business
And we are pleased to report the CT artists are well received in the community. Barbara Bernstein installed a freestanding room, in which every object was covered inside and out with meticulous drawings. Upon seeing her show at Riverviews, a board member of the Pyramid Health Center asked her to paint her large organic murals on the windows of one of their buildings.
