Group behind Richmond Arts Corridor asks City Council for more time and money to put a plan together

Richmond Renaissance, the collective of local artists spearheading development of the Richmond Arts Corridor, is asking City Council for more money and a six-month deadline extension to produce a plan. 

Tuesday’s City Council agenda shows the group will seek an additional $15,000 for door-to-door canvassing to beef up the Arts Corridor’s strategic plan. 

The project aims to revitalize downtown Richmond by establishing an arts hub at the intersection of Macdonald Avenue and 23^rd Street. The plan is expected to include arts events and installations to increase foot traffic, street and property upgrades and capital improvement projects over the next decade.

Richmond Renaissance submitted the successful bid of the two considered by the City Council in October 2024. The bid listed San Francisco-based Independent Arts & Media as the project’s nonprofit fiscal sponsor, and Critical Impact Consulting for policy review and community engagement fieldwork. The proposal and work plan included canvassing. The original deadline was Dec. 31. 

The group now wants the City Council to amend its contract with Independent Arts & Media by increasing the amount from $50,000 to $65,000, and pushing back the deadline to June 30. 

“The receipt of additional funding for more canvassing is desired and extends our outreach capacity,” BK Williams, Richmond Renaissance steering committee chair, wrote in an email. “The absence of input of communities we haven’t yet met with would result in a deficit of ideas and creativity on The Corridor.” 

Hard to reach groups

Ratha Lai, Critical Impact’s CEO and principal consultant, provided a status update on the strategic plan to the Richmond Arts & Culture Commission on Oct. 9. In that meeting, he requested allocating additional funds for expanded outreach.

Critical Impact has conducted listening meetings with members of the business community and people associated with the institutional “anchors” of the Richmond Arts Community. These include the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, Nurturing Independence through Artistic Development, the Richmond Arts Center, the Richmond Museum of History and Culture, and RYSE Youth Center.

Lai acknowledged that canvassing efforts have been “limited.” He thinks small businesses along the proposed corridor have been under-sampled.

 “We just weren’t able to have the resources to get to that part of the plan,” he said.

Kyndelle Johnson, a consultant and community organizer who led the listening meetings, believes there is significant under-representation of what she calls “hard-to-reach” members of Richmond’s arts community. She described these as older artists, particularly artists of color, members of the Spanish-speaking community, and others who are not well connected to the arts community via the internet or social media platforms.

Community survey

In October, Richmond Renaissance launched #ImagineRichmond, an online community survey to solicit feedback on what the Arts Corridor ought to include. Respondents were asked to identify barriers to participation in arts activities in Richmond and indicate the types of arts and cultural offerings they would be interested in, such as pop-up events, murals, sculptures and other creative installations. 

Johnson expressed concern with Critical Impact’s response rate of fewer than 150 responses by late November. She said a sample of 400 would be a “success.” Critical Impact hopes canvassing will promote additional survey participation. 

“Whether it is a technological barrier, whether it’s access, people are working hard or have too many responsibilities to sit down and take a survey,” Johnson said. “I think the power is really getting voices that are not traditionally engaged in community outreach through having the survey at peoples’ door.”

City Councilmember Claudia Jiménez, the council’s liaison to the Arts & Culture Commission, said she supports the request. She described the Arts Corridor as a critical component of economic revitalization for Macdonald Avenue, part of which is located in her district. 

“I think adding some more funds to make sure the analysis and the plan are well done is important,” she said.

The city has allocated $200,000 to begin implementation of the strategic plan once it is submitted. 

Richmond Renaissance has also raised money for the Arts Corridor project from foundations, including two grants to Independent Arts & Media of $50,000 from the Zellerbach Family Foundation in 2024 and 2025, for a total of $100,000; and $10,000 from the Lesher Foundation in 2024, the foundations said.

At the Oct. 9 Arts & Culture Commission meeting, Lai said that both foundations had declined to support Richmond Renaissance’s request for additional funding for fieldwork.

If the City Council declines to approve the additional funding, Critical Impact will still get more time than its contract states to complete the work. According to Lai, it would have until Dec. 31 to complete fieldwork, and then have until February to submit a strategic plan to the city.

The story was updated to clarify information about the grantors and to correct the survey’s launch date.

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