Museums, murals and wine: Why Richmond is America’s best town

Richmond is this amazing place for people who have ideas to come and make them happen. Hamilton Glass is an artist living in Richmond, VA. For people coming to Richmond for the first time, what is something they must do before they leave? They must experience the art. And I know I understand I'm biased 'cause I'm an artist. But Richmond? According to USA TODAY, Richmond is number 2 in the United States in street art. So it's not just me saying that. But Richmond's history with public art is complicated. As the former capital of the Confederacy, Richmond was once home to more Confederate monuments than any other US city, according to its mayor. But in 2020, spurred by the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, a lot of people in Richmond called for their removal and in some cases, took matters into their own hands. This is Jefferson Davis, why this presentation context is important. Here's the photograph. We know that the statue was damaged because it was when it was toppled, it went face down. And so you can see seeing symbols and elements like those monuments fall was liberating in the sense of like, now we get a chance to to create our identity. And create they did. Now, instead of Confederate monuments, you'll find more than 150 St. murals, many painted by Hamilton himself. This took about a week. A week? Yeah. Most murals take about a week long solo. Yeah. We toured the historic Jackson Ward neighborhood, an area once referred to as the Harlem of the South for its vibrant black culture during Virginia's segregation era. And after a long day of looking at great art, it was only right that I stopped for some great wine at Penny's Wine Shop, a black-owned business that is very good. We love when people come from out of town and see and see Richmond man, everybody here has the same kind of goal. We want to see Richmond blow. Cheers. Thank you.