A new grand hall at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture is among the improvements scheduled to be completed by the spring of 2022. (Photo courtesy VMHC)
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Virginia Museum of History & Culture rode into 2019 on crests of popular programming, community connection and acclaimed exhibitions. Planned expansions at both institutions seek to maintain that momentum.
A capital campaign began in July 2019 to support the VMFA’s growth. The master plan entails adding 173,700 square feet during the next six years at a cost of $125.8 million, with $83.9 million coming from the state and $41.9 million from private contributions.
The planned additions include a 105,000-square-foot expansion for African American art and photography of the 21st century, as well as 100,000 square feet for conservation and storage in properties along Grove Avenue.
The VMFA’s master plan calls for a $125.8 million expansion over the next six years. (Photo courtesy Richmond Region Tourism)
The 2010 design of the McGlothlin Wing proved prescient by including HEPA air filters “with a low velocity system that is on par with surgical suites,” explains Alex Nyerges, the VMFA’s director, adding that this system will extend into the new spaces. The design phase may take 16 to 20 months, with finalization of plans by spring 2022. A grand ribbon cutting is expected by the summer of 2025.
The nearby Virginia Museum of History & Culture tallied record-shattering numbers for visitation, finances and public awareness in 2019. Then, on March 13, 2020, the VMHC, then running at a financial surplus, shut down for three months due to the pandemic. Despite losing a quarter to a third of its annual operating budget, the private nonprofit was able to retain its staff without furloughs.
“We’re a historical institution caught in the crosshairs of history,” reflects Jamie Bosket, president and CEO of the VMHC, which is amid a $30 million expansion and improvement program that began ahead of schedule due to the advent of COVID-19. The six-year rejuvenation plan began in 2018, aiming toward significant anniversaries — 2026, the 250th birthday of the United States and 2031, the 200th anniversary of the VMHC’s founding.
The museum received a small-business loan though the federal relief program, which helped it weather the fiscal year. But the next one will be a challenge.
The VMHC already expected an 18-month interruption of operations required by its extensive “reimagining.” Post-coronavirus, the American Association of Museums and the Virginia Tourism Corporation, among others, indicated that a return to a semblance of normal visitation, activity and revenue might take at least 18 months.
Bosket describes his thinking: “So I call up our architects and say, ‘Hey, guess what? Remember all that time we had to think through this process? Well, here we go.’ ”
The museum’s board perceived an opportunity, and donors responded. The museum closed in mid-December 2020, a few months after construction began, with the contractors of Whiting Turner shadowing Glavé Holmes architects to facilitate the transition. Without visitors, disruption should be limited, and the project’s estimated timeline has been sped up to about 17 months, with completion expected in spring 2022.
The Virginia Museum of History & Culture is now closed as a $30 million expansion project takes place. (Photo courtesy VMHC)
Some areas of the VMHC will reopen for in-person visits in April 2021, “at the same time that we as a community will want to be coming back together,” Bosket says. “It’s a silver lining if there ever was one, but it wasn’t happenstance. We had to do some very creative things to be here.”
The plan involves refreshed spaces filled by natural light, including a cafe and an outdoor terrace. The museum’s exhibition space will grow by 50%, and additions to the refurbished library include space for community gatherings and educational sessions, as well as a gallery for some of the museum’s most treasured artifacts. Among the “wow” factors is a theater for what Bosket calls a “sweeping orientation film.” From there, visitors will emerge into wider corridors and clearly delineated arteries guiding them on their individual tours.
A new almost 6,000-square-foot gallery space is reserved for “Our Commonwealth,” a journey through the state’s five geographic regions emphasizing how each one’s history, topography, music and food traditions have contributed to Virginia.
The grounds, too, are undergoing an overhaul to better knit them to the adjoining Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. “Our green space has kind of been an island in the middle of a parking lot,” Bosket notes. Part of this undertaking involves planting crepe myrtles and ornamental cherry trees and removing ailing Southern magnolias to replace them with new ones to, as Bosket says, “give them another 100 years.”
