Several hundred people showed up for the Proof in the Park! event beneath Manchester Bridge April 25. (Photo courtesy Little Giant Society)
They found their purpose under the bridge.
In late April, a small group of local artists calling themselves Little Giant Society showed the city what a real arts park could look like. The one-day event, Proof in the Park, included 10 muralists painting on massive temporary wooden panels under Manchester Bridge, inviting guests and budding artists — including Mayor Danny Avula — to grab a can of paint and get creative.
“After the event we threw, the community outpouring has been huge,” says Ben White, a Richmond photographer and member of Little Giant Society. Several years in the making, the arts project is intended as a showcase for what could be. The city granted a one-time permit for the arts event as a trial run for a more permanent park under the heavily trafficked bridge. It sits at the junction of several existing pedestrian and cycling trails, including the in-progress Fall Line Trail.
Ultimately, White says, the permanent park would include a series of 50-foot-wide, 12-foot-tall concrete panels serving as a rotating public canvas. Richmond artists could use the panels to hone their skills. “There’s no entitlement to it,” White explains. “It could get written over within hours, or within months.”
Where the project goes from here is anybody’s guess. White says the group continues to work with the city, understanding that the cost of installing the permanent concrete panels — about $1 million — would likely fall on them.
“Originally, we had hoped the city would fund it,” White says. “We then realized that wasn’t going to happen.”
