Podcast appearances and mentions of virginia commission

Professor of the Practice in the Department of Music at Duke University, Anthony Kelley joined the Duke faculty in 2000 after serving as Composer-in-Residence with the Richmond Symphony for three years under a grant from Meet the Composer, Inc. He received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Duke University, and he earned a Ph.D. in Musical Composition from the University of California at Berkeley.In 2021, Kelley was appointed as Composer in Residence for the North Carolina Symphony. His major works for symphony orchestra include: Spirituals of Liberation (commissioned and  premiered in 2022 by the North Carolina Symphony, with Evan Feldman and Michelle Di Russo, conducting); the piano concerto, Africamerica (premiered in 1999, by the Richmond Symphony with piano soloist, Donal Fox and George Manahan, conducting); and The Breaks (commissioned and premiered in 1998 by The American Composers Orchestra under the direction of Gerard Schwartz). The Baltimore, Detroit, Atlanta, Oakland East Bay, Marin (CA) and San Antonio symphony orchestras have also performed Kelley's symphonic music.Among his awards and honors are the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Institute and Academy of Arts and Letters, and composition fellowships from the North Carolina Arts Council, the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation.  Some of his other work includes his soundtracks to the H. Lee Waters/Tom Whiteside film, Conjuring Bearden, (2006), and Dante James's film, The Doll (2007), explores music as linked with other media, arts, and sociological phenomena. A recording of Kelley's work, Grist for the Mill (commissioned by the Mallarme Chamber Players), was released in August, 2009 and is available for purchase on iTunes.Support the Show.

Jim Minick is the author or editor of eight books, including Without Warning: The Tornado of Udall, Kansas (nonfiction), Fire Is Your Water (novel), and The Blueberry Years: A Memoir of Farm and Family. His work has appeared in many publications, including The New York Times, Poets & Writers, Oxford American, Artemis Journal, Orion, Shenandoah, Appalachian Journal, Wind, and The Sun. He serves as co-editor of Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel. Minick's honors include the Jean Ritchie Fellowship in Appalachian Writing and the Fred Chappell Fellowship at UNC-Greensboro. Minick has also won awards from the Southern Independent Booksellers Association, Southern Environmental Law Center, The Virginia College Bookstore Association, Appalachian Writers Association, Radford University, and elsewhere. His poem “I Dream a Bean” was picked by Claudia Emerson for permanent display at the Tysons Corner/Metrorail Station. He's garnered grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, Augusta University, the Georgia Humanities Council, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.His newest book, The Intimacy of Spoons explores the many metaphors of the spoon: from love and marriage to the spoon of a grave that holds our bodies; from the darkness of loss and night, where “the Big Dipper is nothing but / the oldest spoon pointing us home”; to the darkness of lungs transformed into art. The poems cover a wide variety of topics—cultural, political, familial, and natural—and always, underlying these poems is the song of birds—with broken wings or clear voices, avian muses filling our forests now or long gone. There are nods to Basho and Thoreau, to Eliot and Frost, Dickinson and Milton, this last, a long poem that retells the story of Adam and Eve from the point of view of Mal, the apple. Likewise, The Intimacy of Spoons shares a variety of forms, from sonnet, sestina, and villanelle to syllabics, lyrics, and a ballad. At the center of the book is the long poem, “Elegy for My Body,” which uses wordplay and contrasting voices to explore mortality, because “You can't really do time; / it simply does us, / or undoes us, / us beings in the time being being beings / on Times Squared / waiting for the big ball to fall.” The poems of The Intimacy of Spoons return us to everyday stories and objects, common yet profound.

The Virginia General Assembly proposed in its budget an outside review of the state's special education dispute resolution system, through legislation designed to address compliance concerns raised by the federal government and parents. Lawmakers are proposing to direct 0,000 to the Virginia Commission on Youth to hire a consultant to examine the dispute resolution system, which has been criticized for failing to monitor and respond to complaints against school districts. The governor is expected to complete his review of the state budget, which includes the funding request, when lawmakers return to Richmond on April 17. “This resolution is a piece of...Article LinkSupport the show

Gov. Glenn Youngkin recently announced additional appointments to key state positions: Virginia Commission on Higher Education Board Appointments – The Honorable Lisa M. Hicks-Thomas of Henrico, deputy general counsel at Dominion Energy; Child Support Guidelines Review Panel – H. Van Smith of Henrico, attorney and counselor at law at Smith Strong, PLC; Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth, Board of Trustees – Riley Shaia of Henrico, group exercise instructor at Tuckahoe Family YMCA; Virginia Lottery Board – Sherry L. Williams of Henrico, chief risk officer at Atlantic Union Bank; Board for Professional Soil Scientists, Wetland Professionals, and Geologists – Steven Yob...Article LinkSupport the show

The Virginia Commission on Youth is considering recommending changes to the state's foster care system. Some of their suggestions include more support for social service workers, as well as educational resources to help more foster care youth graduate from 4-year-institutions. Roxy Todd explains.

Our conversation today with Katie Mercer, Director of Marketing & Events for the Town of Woodstock gave all the details for competing in their upcoming WoodsTACO Street Taco Festival. The event will take place on Saturday, September 23, 2023 from 11am - 4pm in downtown Woodstock. Katie explained how the competition works - there are professional and amateur competitions - that feature five different categories: Authentic/ Traditional, Tex-Mex/Non-Traditional, Dessert, Vegetarian, and Showmanship. Guest judges will blind taste test and score the tacos to determine a $500 winner and a $250 runner up in each of the four categories.  (Showmanship is not determined by the guest judges.) Taco tasting ticket holders will vote for their favorite taco in each category for an overall $250 people's choice winner and an overall $100 showmanship winner.  You must purchase your ticket in advance (click here to do that) to taste and cast your vote for your favorite tacos. There are only 300 tasting tickets available for the event with less than 25 remaining at the time of our recording. Tasting ticket holders will receive a wristband at the event and will be the only individuals allowed to sample and vote. General admission is free and whole tacos and other fare will be available for purchase for attendees that do not have a tasting ticket/wristband. Taco sales will end around 3:30pm. There will be a beer/wine/cider garden sponsored by Woodstock Rotary. Live Mexalachian music will take place all day by the LUA Project. (This performance is partially supported by funding from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.) There will also be a Mexican folklore performance. The event is rain or shine. Learn more about WoodsTACO Street Taco Festival on their website: https://www.townofwoodstockva.gov/woodstaco

Susan Hankla Poet has s long history with Artemis. Back in 1977, as a young writer, Susan's poetry appeared in the very first edition of Artemis Journal. VA. For many years she worked as a traveling poet-in-the-schools working with underserved communities in Virginia, through generous grants from The Virginia Commission on the Arts. This made her love of teaching creative writing grow into reaching out to the Richmond community offering adult writing classes at the VMFA Studio School, The Visual Arts Center, & The University of Richmond. Her debut collection of poems, Clinch River, was released in 2017 and her second poetry book was just released, titled I'm not Evelyn published by Groundhog Press.

My guest Nathan Kottkamp is the founder and chair of National Healthcare Decisions, which highlights the importance of advance care planning. National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) is an annual day recognized as a day to talk about advance care planning. My guest Nathan Kottkamp is the founder and chair of National Healthcare Decisions, which highlights the importance of advance care planning. He's actively engaged in addressing complex public health issues. He is also a member of the Advance Directives Task Force Committee of the Supreme Court of Virginia Commission on Mental Health Law Reform, and a member of the Legislative Committee of the Central Virginia Overdose Working Group. Nathan also serves on the Williams Mullen Diversity and Inclusion and well-being committees.  Nathan is a prolific writer and regular speaker on a wide array of legal and ethics topics, including HIPAA, digital health and ransomware.   Find out more about National Healthcare Decisions on The Conversation Project website. Complete your own advance care planning with resources from The Conversation Project.   Access resources to supportNational Healthcare Decisions Day activities in your community here.  Find more information about hospice philosophy, end of life care, and self care for both personal and professional caregivers here.   Connect with The Heart of Hospice podcast on The Whole Care Network, along with a host of other caregiver podcasts by clicking here.  Book podcast host Helen Bauer to speak at your event or conference by sending an email to helen@theheartofhospice.com.  Find more podcast episodes from The Heart of Hospice at The Heart of Hospice Podcast (theheartofhospice.com)

My guest Nathan Kottkamp is the founder and chair of National Healthcare Decisions, which highlights the importance of advance care planning. National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) is an annual day recognized as a day to talk about advance care planning. My guest Nathan Kottkamp is the founder and chair of National Healthcare Decisions, which highlights the importance of advance care planning. He's actively engaged in addressing complex public health issues. He is also a member of the Advance Directives Task Force Committee of the Supreme Court of Virginia Commission on Mental Health Law Reform, and a member of the Legislative Committee of the Central Virginia Overdose Working Group. Nathan also serves on the Williams Mullen Diversity and Inclusion and well-being committees.  Nathan is a prolific writer and regular speaker on a wide array of legal and ethics topics, including HIPAA, digital health and ransomware.   Find out more about National Healthcare Decisions on The Conversation Project website. Complete your own advance care planning with resources from The Conversation Project.   Access resources to supportNational Healthcare Decisions Day activities in your community here.  Find more information about hospice philosophy, end of life care, and self care for both personal and professional caregivers here.   Connect with The Heart of Hospice podcast on The Whole Care Network, along with a host of other caregiver podcasts by clicking here.  Book podcast host Helen Bauer to speak at your event or conference by sending an email to helen@theheartofhospice.com.  Find more podcast episodes from The Heart of Hospice at The Heart of Hospice Podcast (theheartofhospice.com)

My guest Nathan Kottkamp is the founder and chair of National Healthcare Decisions, which highlights the importance of advance care planning.  National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) is an annual day recognized as a day to talk about advance care planning. My guest Nathan Kottkamp is the founder and chair of National Healthcare Decisions, which highlights the importance of advance care planning.  He's actively engaged in addressing complex public health issues. He is also a member of the Advance Directives Task Force Committee of the Supreme Court of Virginia Commission on Mental Health Law Reform, and a member of the Legislative Committee of the Central Virginia Overdose Working Group. Nathan also serves on the Williams Mullen Diversity and Inclusion and well-being committees.  Nathan is a prolific writer and regular speaker on a wide array of legal and ethics topics, including HIPAA, digital health and ransomware.   Find out more about National Healthcare Decisions on The Conversation Project website. Complete your own advance care planning with resources from The Conversation Project.   Access resources to supportNational Healthcare Decisions Day activities in your community here.  Find more information about hospice philosophy, end of life care, and self care for both personal and professional caregivers here.   Connect with The Heart of Hospice podcast on The Whole Care Network, along with a host of other caregiver podcasts by clicking here.  Book podcast host Helen Bauer to speak at your event or conference by sending an email to helen@theheartofhospice.com.  Find more podcast episodes from The Heart of Hospice at The Heart of Hospice Podcast (theheartofhospice.com)      

On today's program:* After facing a legal challenge, the City of Charlottesville will have to hold another public hearing before re-adopting its Comprehensive Plan* The latest updates on legislation filed for the 2023 General Assembly, including one proposal to create a Virginia Commission on Social Mead* The three candidates to be the next Charlottesville police chief appear at a city forum  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

The new Executive Director of the Virginia Commission for the Arts (VCA) Margaret Hancock talked to us about the VCA, the services it provides, different grant programs for artists, arts organizations and educators, revised grants rolling out in December, and her goals for the VCA including providing a grant in every county in the state. Also hear about other programs they are involved in including Poetry Out Loud, capacity building workshops, and an Impact Celebration coming in January to celebrate the impact of the arts.

What makes theatre such an important part of building connections -- both in school and out of school? And how can theatre help foster imagination and self-awareness as part of a strong STEM/STEAM program? Meet Selah Theatre Project's Founding Artistic Director, LaTasha Do'zia. Latasha is a visionary artist and entrepreneur who uses the arts to help build a stronger, kinder, and more creative community. As a teaching artist, LaTasha has used theatre as a tool for teacher development, private business communication, counselor training, mental health intervention, and social justice movements.  In 2021, LaTasha was appointed by the Governor to serve on the Virginia Commission for the Arts,.  It has been my privilege to lead professional development workshops on multicultural picture books and STEAM connections with LaTasha. We are co-teaching at Shenandoah University, where we explore bringing multicultural picture books to life. Full show notes.[02:07] We talk about LaTasha's personal adventure in learning and how she reached a place where she owns and operates her own theatre company. "I discovered theater when I was six years old," LaTasha says. "My mother said that I was too dramatic and I needed to put that energy somewhere." We've said this before on the podcast, but books have an amazing power to provide windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors for children (and adults) as they navigate establishing their identities and figuring out who they are in the world. If you haven't read it yet, I strongly encourage you to check out Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop's seminal work on the subject. At [04:27], we learn that LaTasha's favorite book from her childhood that also served as a mirror was John Steptoe's Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters.We delve deeper into the creation of LaTasha's Selah Theatre Project, which she started 11 years ago. LaTasha offers a sneak peek at the new season, which includes What the Consitution Means to Me, Trouble In Mind, Macbeth, Akeelah and the Bee, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?   [06:51]  "We do 8 productions a year and it's a mixture of youth theater, teen theater, and community theater," she says. "We focus on diverse voices as much as possible. And diversity comes in so many ways. It's not just racial, it's also socioeconomic, it's also learning based. There's so much diversity in our group and we're very proud of that. We're small but mighty."[16:58] I have been fortunate enough to work with LaTasha to help teachers and librarians unlock strategies for connecting multicultural picture books with STEAM for more engaged learning. We  incorporate drama into these workshops toBuzzsprout - Let's get your podcast laun Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showRead the full show notes, visit the website, and check out my on-demand virtual course. Continue the adventure at LinkedIn or Instagram. *Disclosure: I am a Bookshop.org. affiliate.

What convictions that you have? How do you want to live your life and how you want to—if you consider yourself a creator, craft your art. It's a tender thing to have the courage of your conviction and to know when to be buck convention in order to give birth to something truly novel. For me, I love rules. Mainly to learn the rules of whatever genre I'm studying so that I can break them and attempt something new. In today's episode, Nastassja talks to us about her journey to becoming a fiber artist. She'll share with us how her art helps her to understand Black girlhood in the US. Nastassja's work will surprise and delight you. Mostly her approach to her work, may give you new perspectives in your own life. Nastassja Swift is sculptural fiber artist redefining her use of portraiture through wool to create work that speaks to spirituality, history and place in relation to the body. Nastassja was recently invited to Penland School of Craft's Winter Residency as a Distinguished Fellow. She is the recipient of a 2022 -23 VMFA Fellowship, the 2021 Dr. Doris Derby Award, the Art Matters 2021 Artist2Artist Award, the Black Box Press Foundation 2021 Art as Activism Grant, and the 2020 Virginia Commission of the Arts Fellowship. Her work has been acquired into the Grace Linton Battle Memorial Fund for the Arts Collection, as well as Quirk Hotel in Charlottesville. Nastassja Swift is currently living and working in Virginia. Get to know more about Nastassja: Keep up with your host Martine Severin https://martineseverin.com/ Follow This Is How We Create on IG. https://www.instagram.com/thisishowwecreate_/ This is How We Create and edited and produced by Martine Severin and edited by Ray Abercrombie

Listen to an engaging playful chat with David Berry, a highly talented classical musician and impressive avid improviser with numerous accomplishments including a recent performance in a historic house debut at Carnegie Hall! Hear an entertaining family story on how and when he was first introduced to the piano. Learn about his audition process for Juilliard, a private performing arts conservatory widely regarded as one of the world's leading drama, music, and dance schools. Get his personal approach and insight on nervousness, preparing and performing. Hear the story of the historic performance at Carnegie Hall with the Gateways Orchestra comprised entirely of professional classical musicians of African descent. Learn about what all you can see and experience at the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival referred to as “a jewel in Harrisonburg's Crown” by the Virginia Commission for the Arts. Learn what his teaching philosophy is and what advice he gives to students today that want a career in music and more! Plus, find out where you can listen to David perform that includes live street concerts in Harrisonburg's charming downtown. This episode is sure to inspire as well as inspire you to explore and listen to more classical music. Enjoy! David Berry Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/david.berry.73594479 Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival  “a jewel in Harrisonburg's Crown” – Virginia Commission for the Arts https://www.svbachfestival.org/ To learn more about X2 Comedy visit: https://www.x2comedy.com/ Facebook & Instagram: @x2comedy

We recorded today's conversation at the offices of the Shenandoah Valley Music Festival to chat with Director, Dennis Lynch. Dennis gave us a quick rundown of the musical acts that are booked for this year's summer concert series. We talked about the preparations that go into kicking off the music festival each year. Dennis reminded us of the experience concert goers have when attending any of the performances. The lineup this year will include: Friday, July 22, 8pm: Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives Saturday, July 23, 8pm: The Fab Four: The Ultimate Tribute Friday, July 29, 8pm: ABBA the Concert - A Tribute to ABBA Saturday, July 30, 8pm: Richmond Symphony Performing Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Shenandoah Valley Choral Society and other vocalists from the community. Interested in being part of the choir for this performance? No auditions! To inquire, click here. This concert is supported in part by the Shenandoah Community Foundation and by an award from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts Friday, August 12, 8pm: America Saturday, August 13, 8pm: Village People Saturday, Sept. 3, 7pm: The Spinners Sunday, Sept. 4, 6pm: Hot Strings & Cool Breezes A minifest of Americana music, featuring: Béla Fleck - My Bluegrass Heart Also featuring Billy Contreras, Jacob Jolliff, Justin Moses, Bryan Sutton & Mark Schatz  

We’re well into the year now, with new people in different political roles, even though most of us are stuck in the same lives we’ve always been in. It’s February 5 and we’re now over a tenth of the way through 2022. There’s still a lot to go, so this is a good day to imagine how that other ninety percent may look. This is Charlottesville Community Engagement, and I’m your host, Sean Tubbs.On today’s show:It’s the first meeting for new interim City Manager Michael C. RogersCharlottesville City Council gets another close look for budget at the next fiscal yearProperty assessments have brought in new revenue but a tax increase will be needed to cover the growing capital budget At least three Councilors appear ready to raise the property tax by ten cents this year Shout-out to Pen Park burial researchIn today’s subscriber-fueled shout-out, work continues to identify people whose remains are buried just outside a cemetery in Charlottesville’s Pen Park. The Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society and the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library will give an update in a webinar on Wednesday, February 9 on the Forgotten History of Pen Park: Unmarked Graves of Enslaved Persons. The panel will discuss the research thus far to identify the unmarked graves of enslaved individuals outside the Gilmer, Craven, and Hotopp family cemeteries and the connections that are being made to living descendants. Speakers include Charlottesville’s historic preservation planner, researchers and descendants. Visit the library’s website at jmrl.org to register. Also go watch the first installment from past June on the Historical Society’s YouTube page. Council appears ready to increase property tax rate Charlottesville City Council met for over three hours on Thursday for a work session on the city’s next budget. In an era with lots of turnover on both staff and Council, the budget remains one of the best ways to gauge the health of the city organization, at least from a financial and fiscal perspective. Now it’s up to a new City Council to make the decisions that will lead the community forward. There are two new Councilors who have not yet been through the process of a new budget. There are three who have mostly only served during the virtual era brought on by the pandemic, a time that’s felt a little disconnected for many of us. Still, the city has moved on, continuing a trajectory towards increased spending on capital projects. In FY13, the five-year capital improvement plan was $65 million. In FY2018 that had increased to $106 million. In FY22 that figure is now $159 million with previous Councils agreeing to make major investments in affordable housing as well as school reconfiguration.But the question remains? How exactly will City Council decide how this will be paid for? The process got officially underway on February 3 at a budget work session in which the new Council stated their values and indicated their willingness to increase the property tax rate. One of the first things was to hear from Michael C. Rogers, the new interim city manager. (watch the presentation)“Our discussion is the first discussion about the FY23 budget,” Rogers said. Some decisions have already been made well in advance of the official kick-off. In September, three members of this Council told budget staff to take over $18 million in the capital improvement plan that had been intended for the West Main Streetscape and put it toward a $75 million investment in city schools.  They also adopted an affordable housing plan in March which calls for $10 million a year on affordable housing projects such as the redevelopment of Friendship Court and Charlottesville public housing sites. As the budget cycle officially begins, the central question is how to pay for these decisions made by a previous Council. Now it’s up to this one to decide whether to proceed and at what cost. A majority on Council appears willing to raise the property tax rates, even in a year with near record increases in property assessments. (Read previous stories on budget development on Information Charlottesville) Assessments up more than normalAt the beginning of the February 3 work session, Rogers helped inform the answer with new information that had not yet been revealed.  (view the presentation for the February 3, 2022 meeting)“There has been a tremendous boost in terms of the assessed value of property,” Rogers said. Assessments were up an average of 10.77 percent this year, according to city assessor Jeffrey Davis. “The reassessments saw a larger than normal increase this year and that was due mainly to the overall strength of the residential market,” Davis said. In 2022 residential property increased 11.7 percent. That figure was 4.2 percent in 2021 and 3.8 percent in 2020. Commercial property values rebounded this year. All of the property assets added together make up what’s called the tax base. Davis said the rise in assessments from 2021 to 2022 have yielded an additional $860.8 million to the base. In comparison, the increase from 2020 to 2021 added $250.3 million to the base. These numbers will remain in flux as property owners pursue appeals. (learn more on the assessor’s website)“We are right now in the process of handling appeals and we will be doing that,” Davis said. “The appeal period ends at the end of February and at that time we will look to prepare for the Board of Equalization which will hear appeals in May.” A budget is built by staff who make forecasts about how much revenue the city will bring in. Sources include local taxes, licenses and permits, charges for services, and revenue from state and federal sources. There’s also a line item for revenue sharing from Albemarle County. But the biggest source of revenue is from property taxes. In the current fiscal year which runs through this June 30, budget staff projected $80.3 million in revenues from property taxes, or 41.8 percent of total revenues. The increase in assessments will bring in additional revenues for the current fiscal year, and will also yield additional revenue on which to build the FY23 budget. “We are looking at a revenue increase of $14.8 million for the FY23 budget,” said Krisy Hammill, the city’s senior budget analyst. Of that figure, real estate makes up $8.3 million of that increase, and the rest is made up through projected increases in revenues from the sales tax, meals tax, and the lodging tax. Hammill said that means the city can build a budget of $207 million for FY23, up from the adopted budget of $192.2 million.All of this is based on an assumption the property tax rate will remain at 95 cents per $100 of assessed value. It’s been at that rate since calendar year 2008. (cvillepedia)“As staff, we have not made any assumptions about any kind of tax increase at this point,” Hammill said. Additional expenditures for FY23 will take up much of that $14 millionBefore we get to the capital portion of the budget, another driver is further salary increases for city employees. Council agreed earlier this year to allocate the budget surplus from FY21 to cover the cost of a bonus as well as a six percent across the board increase. That means FY23’s operating budget must carry on that charge at a cost of $3.2 million and further merit pay increases are also being considered to help retain staff in an era of fierce competition. “We have priced out here a potential three percent merit increase,” Hammill said. “That would be at a cost of $1.7 million.”  There is no budget yet but we do know that there have been $10.655 million in requests from city departments, with just under half of this in the form of new positions. Another $3 million is for compensation requests, and just under $2.5 million are for operational additions. Specific decisions about individual line items will be made as Council goes through the budget in March. The key takeaway for Hammill’s presentation was one of revenue.“Numberwise, it’s a good story to tell,” Hammill said. “We have $14 million in new revenue. The challenging part is that we always have more needs than we have resources and so how do we best prioritize and parse through and figure out the trade-offs?”And that’s the task ahead for staff and Council. The budget won’t officially be presented until March 7 but until then there will continue to be lots of discussion about the capital improvement plan. “As we move on, we know that this plan is not affordable as currently laid out without significant revenue enhancements,” Hammill said. “We have to figure out a way to pay for it.” The debt service payment would double if all of the bonds for all of the projects were floated next year. Hammill said Council needs to review the capital budget carefully.“If ever there was a time when priorities take a very high look, this is the opportunity to do that,” Hammill said. Towards an inevitable tax rate increase?The discussion of whether to move forward with a tax rate was led by Interim City Manager Rogers. He said Council does not have ready access to that $14 million made available through the assessment. “There are some decisions that have already been made that impact how that new revenue can be used,” Rogers said. “Some of the decisions have already been made. Some of it is that we are recommending based on prior discussion that certain investments continue to be made in employees and retirees.”The school system gets a percentage of that new revenue based on a formula, and that would yield $3.3 million. However, the school system has asked for more and staff is recommending an additional $900,000. There’s another $1 million slated for enhancements for tax relief programs, $1.8 million in equipment repair and replacement related to COVID, and other recommended uses of the money.“At the end of the day when we look at all of the availability of revenue and all of the things that we have listed that are up for funding, there’s not a lot of money that’s left if it goes that way,” Rogers said.Hammill said there’s about a half million left from that $14 million. Rogers said that means that if Council wants to support that capital budget, there will need to be an increase in the tax rate. Council discussionCouncilor Sena Magill said she is prepared to raise the rate even on top of the assessments because she said Charlottesville has one of the lowest municipal tax rates of its peer cities. “There are some things coming up that we have to make sure that we’re, we know we have to do something about schools,” Magill said. “I know we’re also still trying to figure out reconfiguration from renovation from all of these parts and pieces. But I know we do know to sink a lot of money into our schools to bring them up to a place where the buildings are environments that are conducive to learning and good mental health.” Vice Mayor Juandiego Wade, who served for 16 years on the School Board, said he supported additional funding for the schools. “The cost of the schools are not going to get any cheaper,” Wade said. “If we had made some of these decisions in the past instead of $75 million maybe it would have been $60 million or $65 million. It would have been cheaper.” Planning for reconfiguration took place during Wade’s tenure on the school board. To learn more about those decisions, visit cvillepedia. City Councilor Michael Payne said he wanted to continue to honor the $10 million a year agreed to in the Affordable Housing Plan adopted by Council last March. “Even if we’re not able to immediately get there this budget cycle, to have a clear plan for how we will very shortly maintain that commitment over ten years,” Payne said. On February 22, Council will receive the final report on an audit of the Charlottesville Affordable Housing fund. (See also: Council briefed on affordable housing funds, December 31, 2021)Payne also wants additional local funding for public transportation as one way to implement a future climate action plan. He also wants money set aside for higher salaries when the city implements a collective bargaining system for city employees. Councilor Brian Pinkston said he supports funding for the school.  “Local governments build schools,” Pinkston said. “That’s like a core competency of what we should be doing to advance. It’s more than just building shiny new buildings. There’s an investment in physical capital that reflects human capital as well.”Pinkston asked the public to accept the potential to reduce the cost of reconfiguration through value engineering discussed at Council’s joint meeting with the School Board on Wednesday. He also said he supported continued spending on affordable housing. Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook agreed that it is the role of the city to invest in schools, and that Councilors in recent years have seen providing affordable housing as a core city function. “That not withstanding, this Council and prior Councils have decided that it is something that is a priority of ours and it gets hard after a while to figure out what it means to be one of those core things that cities have to do if we keep adding more things to that list,” Snook said. Snook said collective bargaining will also lead to the need for more employees to handle the negotiations, and that will be another added moving forward. Charlottesville has also taken additional EMS positions paid for through a federal grant that will eventually run out. “Part of the issue there of course is the ongoing concern that has not really been addressed at all between the Rescue Squad and the Fire Department and that’s an issue that we need to be working on whether that has an actual budget impact on the next fiscal year , I don’t know,” Snook said. “It seems to me that it may well.” The draft capital improvement program shown to the Planning Commission in November anticipated issuing bonds for the school reconfiguration project in FY2024, which means a tax increase this year to pay for the debt service would not be strictly necessary. But Hammill said saving up the money now could help the success of the project. “I do think that if we had an opportunity to decide where we are definitively, then there is a lot of opportunity for staff to come back and give you more definitive options to weigh against,” Hammill said. Councilor Payne said he wanted to see scenarios for various situations ranging from cutting the budget to adding more revenue. “And I think within those scenarios has to be not just what we choose to find in the CIP but also the other variable of is a majority of Council in support of a ten cent real estate tax increase?” Payne asked. “Fifteen? Twenty? Five?”Payne suggests other revenue sourcesPayne is also holding out hope that the General Assembly will grant permission to localities including Charlottesville to enact a one-percent sales tax increase for education. Legislation in the House of Delegates filed by Delegate Sally Hudson (D-57) did not make it out of committee (HB531) (HB545) but a bill carried by Senator Creigh Deeds (D-25) did pass out of the Senate on a 28 to 12 vote (SB298). Bills need to be approved by both Houses in order to go before Governor Glenn Youngkin for action. “And the state’s commission on school funding was very explicit in saying that the only solution was state level,” Payne said. Payne referred to the Virginia Commission on School Construction and Modernization, which offered several recommendations in December. (read them here)Payne also suggesting finding a way to get the University of Virginia to contribute to the city through something called a Payment in Lieu of Taxes which you can look up in the state code.“It’s longer term but it seems like a discussion we should engage the University on,” Payne said. “I know that’s something that the University of Michigan, Yale, Harvard, and many other institutions have done.”UVA is exempt from paying property taxes and none of the examples he gave are in Virginia. Rogers took all of the information in.“It’s a lot to think about and we appreciate that and this part of the program was precisely what we had hoped for,” Rogers said. Deadline looms for tax rate advertisementA tax rate has to be advertised to the public thirty days before the public hearing and Hammill said that means a decision on a tax rate to publish needs to be made by Council by February 14. “February 14 is the day I really need to be calling up the Daily Progress so we’re short on time in that respect,” Hammill said. Mayor Snook said that Council will make a final decision on the tax rate to advertise at its meeting this upcoming Monday.  After a public comment period, they further discussed the matter. Councilor Payne suggested one scenario.“If our baseline scenario is funding everything currently in the CIP, I would think that at a minimum we would need to discuss ten cents,” Payne said. “If we’re talking about five cents or lower, again, I think we just need to be very honest with ourselves and the public that that means not funding the affordable housing plan for a decade.” Payne also said without a higher tax increase, there would be no funding to expand transit, address climate change, begin collecting bargaining, and continued support for Friendship Court’s redevelopment. “And I don’t think that’s what the community wants to see our decision to be,” Payne said. Another issue is whether Council should provide city funding two additional Piedmont Housing Alliance projects that they approved earlier this year. (See also: Council approves MACAA rezoning for Piedmont Housing Alliance and Habitat for Humanity)Magill was very clear.“I am very much for raising taxes,” Magill said. “I think we have to do it for a lot of reasons.”Pinkston said he needed more time to decide on a tax rate but appeared supportive of one. “I don’t know all the reasons why our tax rates are relatively low,” Pinkston said. “You know, I’m open to a ten cent increase because I think that’s what it’s going to take to get where we need to go.” Pinkston suggested five cents this year, and the other five cents next year. Interim City Manager Michael Rogers closed up the meeting. “We can take this and go back and Krisy and the revenue team and we can really dig in with the deputy city managers and try to come city manager is going to come back with something that will meet your needs,” Rogers said. What do you think? This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

2022 ends its third week today, and this edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement is intended to capture where we are as of January 21. Listeners and readers do not need to know that this is Squirrel Appreciation Day, National Cheesy Socks Day, National Hugging Day, and One-Liners Day. But, now you do, and that is information you may find useful. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs, and now here’s something I hope you’ll really like.In the 318th edition:The Blue Ridge Health District hits another one day record for COVID-19 with 800 casesA quick snapshot of where the General Assembly was as of this morning And the Central Virginia Regional Housing Partnership takes a look at “missing middle” housingFirst subscriber-supported public service announcement - #MLKCVILLEThe commemoration in Charlottesville of the life, times, and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. continues on Sunday with the 37th Community Celebration put on by the Mount Zion First African Baptist Church. Beginning at 4 p.m., a panel discussion will be held virtually on the topic of “The Urgency of Creating the Beloved Community.” Nancy O’Brien will moderate the event which will features speakers Bitsy Waters, Sarad Davenport, and Cameron Webb. Community members will be recognized and the winners of the local MLK essay contest will be announced. Visit and bookmark the YouTube mlkcville page to review last year’s celebration while you wait for Sunday at 4 p.m. New one-day record of new COVID cases in the Blue Ridge Health DistrictThe Virginia Department of Health reports another 800 new cases of COVID-19 in the Blue Ridge Health District. That’s the highest one day total so far. Those cases are among 17,027 reported across the Commonwealth today. The seven-day average for percent positivity statewide continues to decrease and is at 30.9 percent today. Kathryn Goodman of the Health District confirmed the numbers.“It is important that people follow multiple mitigation strategies to help prevent spreading COVID-19, which include staying home when sick, getting COVID-19 vaccines and boosters, wearing masks in public settings,” Goodman said. The highest plateau of hospitalization numbers so far continues with 3,836 new cases according to the Virginia Healthcare and Hospitalization Association. There are 632 patients in intensive care units and 387 are on ventilators. Today the UVA Health System has the most number of COVID patients then at any time of the pandemic to date. Wendy Horton is the Chief Executive Officer for UVA Health and said there are 114 in-patients today.“And of those 114 COVID patients, 36 are in our ICU’s and six of them are pediatric patients,” Horton said. Some of those COVID patients are asymptomatic and had gone to the hospital for other reasons. We’re now in the third year of the worldwide pandemic, and the Associated Press reports some countries across the world are opting to shift their public health strategy towards accepting COVID-19 as a continuing condition. More of an endemic rather than a pandemic. Dr. Costi Sifri is the director of hospital epidemiology at UVA Health he cautions against making that conclusion.“Many people have predicted the ending of the pandemic at various interactions through this and we think that we’re all a little bit concerned about doing that prematurely,” Dr. Sifri said. “We don’t know what things may look like after Omicron and if there are other variants that we’ll have to deal with. We may see some of the old variants come back and cause problems.”So far, Dr. Sifri said the omicron variant does not cause as many fatalities per infection. “There are reasons for that that seem to be bearing out based on studies,” Dr. Sifri said. “Things like the fact that it causes upper respiratory tract infections compared to pneumonia and lower respiratory tract infections.” Governor Youngkin’s Executive Order Two declared that mask usage in public schools was optional. One stated reason is that the omicron variant “results in less severe illness.” Dr. Sifri said it’s still a serious issue.“Omicron still really can cause very, very serious illness and we’re still seeing patient deaths and we’re seeing them almost on a daily basis,” Dr. Sifri said. Vaccination continues to be a protection against serious disease. The seven-day average for doses administered per day is at 20,915 today and 68.6 percent of the total Virginia population is fully vaccinated and around 2.3 million have received a third dose or a booster. Horton said it is a misnomer to state that omicron is not a threat. “It does cause quite a bit of disease especially in immunocompromised individuals so far our health systems a lot of strain on the intensive care units and caring for those individuals,” Horton said. Later in the week, Youngkin issued another executive order to declare a limited state of emergency to provide hospitals and health care with “flexibility” in the work against COVID-19. (Executive Order 11)“For a health system it really is an acknowledgment of where we’re at and really garners additional resources,” Horton said. “I was really so pleased to see an emphasis on making sure that people have access to vaccination. So that is really very, very important.” Horton said this allows hospitals the ability to increase bed capacity and increase staffing. “We are very fortunate here at UVA that we haven’t had to activate those special accommodations, but it is really great that we know that we have them if we ever need to activate or use any special resources available,” Horton said. Regional group briefed on “missing middle” housingChanges to land use rules are being made across the region to allow for additional density to create what planners and developers refer to as “missing middle” housing. The term was coined by Dan Parolek in 2010. “His focus is on small units and making them feasible to build in neighborhoods where only large single-family houses currently exist,” said Emily Hamilton is a senior research fellow and director of the Urbanity Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.Hamilton was one of the speakers at the latest discussion run by the Central Virginia Regional Housing Partnership on Thursday. She said additional flexibility to allow more housing can lead to units becoming more affordable. (watch the video)“In some of the cases where we see lots of small in-fill construction happening there is that increased flexibility where for example large duplex units or townhouses can be built in places where exclusively detached single family houses would have been permitted previously,” Hamilton said.The recent adoption of the Crozet Master Plan as well as the Future Land Use Map in the Charlottesville Comprehensive Plan are both intended to encourage the production of these units and developers have responded. Many community members have pushed back, as seen this week in Scottsville when community opposition may have led to a deferral of two special use permits.However, Hamilton said this is how houses in communities used to be built.“Historically in an era before zoning we saw that what we would now call missing middle was often times the bread and butter housing of working and middle income Americans because it has lower per-foot construction costs compared to a large multi-family building,” Hamilton said. The topic comes up a lot in the community. Here are two examples I’ve not yet had the chance to review completely: The Places29-North Community Advisory Committee was introduced to the new Middle Density Residential category at its meeting on January 13. (watch the video)The Crozet Community Advisory Committee discussed a planned residential community within that designated growth area on January 12. (watch the video)Second subscriber-supporter public service announcement goes to Shift/EnterDo you or someone you know want to find a job in the tech community? On this upcoming Saturday, there will be another Shift/Enter workshop in which participants can go through directed sessions with knowledgeable volunteers on resume feedback, interview advice, and perspectives on the tech landscape. For an $8 ticket, you'll have three different interview sessions with people to have a career conversation, to review your resume, or to have a mock interview. To learn more and to sign up, visit shiftenter.org. General Assembly update: Charlottesville sales tax referendum moves close to passage in the SenateToday is Day Nine of the Virginia General Assembly, and we’re at the point where the first pieces of legislation have made their way out of Committee and await a vote in either the House of Delegates or the Senate. There’s a lot of these, but here are some of note. For starters, a bill from Senator Creigh Deeds that would allow Charlottesville to levy a one-cent sales tax increase for capital education costs has been reported out of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee on a 14-2 vote. Senators Steve Newman and Emmet Hanger voted against the measure. (SB298) Today, the bill was read for the second time by the full Senate. Delegate Sally Hudson has similar legislation in the House of Delegates. It is currently within a subcommittee of the House Finance Committee (HB545)If signed into law, voters would have to approve the measure in a referendum. The funding would be earmarked for the school reconfiguration project. Here’s the status on more legislation. A bill (HB28) from Delegate Ronnie Campbell (R-2) to increase the length of the Maury River’s Scenic River status by 23.2 miles was approved by the Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources Committee on a 19-2 vote. One of the two to vote against it was Delegate Chris Runion (R-25). The full House had first reading today. A bill (HB828) from Delegate Tony Wilt (R-26) to expand eligibility in the Dairy Producer Margin Coverage Premium Assistance Program was reported out of the same committee on a unanimous vote. Learn more about the program here. The full House had first reading today. Delegate John McGuire (R-56) has a bill (HB358) would direct the Virginia Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs and the Secretary of Commerce and Trade to examine the feasibility of waiving fees for small businesses owned by veterans. The House Commerce and Energy Committee unanimously recommended adoption. A bill (HB8) from Delegate Tim Anderson (R-83) would allow veterans hired by school boards to be school security officers to perform any other duty they are requested to do so. The House Education committee reported that out unanimously. The full House had first reading today. Another bill (HB9) carried by Delegate Lee Ware (R-65) would allow school boards to extend probationary period for teachers and would appear to make it easier for school boards to dismiss teachers by reducing the period of notice of a dismissal hearing from ten days to five days. That was also reported out of the House Education Committee unanimously. The full House had first reading today. A tax credit program for “major business facilities” is currently slated to sunset this July 1, but a bill from Delegate Kathy Byron (R-22) would extend that to July 1, 2025 (HB269). The House Finance Committee reported that out on a 20-1 vote. Delegate Nick Frietas was the lone vote against this action.  The full House had first reading today. The Attorney General would be required to report every year the number of fraudulent Medicaid claims on a public website if HB232 from Delegate Bobby Orrock (R-54) becomes law. The House Health, Welfare, and Institutions unanimously reported this out unanimously. The full House had first reading today. Over in the Senate, a bill (SB8) from Senator Chap Petersen (D-34) to permit hunting on Sunday reported out of the Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources on a 9 to 4 vote, with two abstentions. Second Here are some other bills of note:A bill from Senator Barbara Favola (D-31) that would allow roof replacement projects at for public buildings to enter into a energy performance-based contract (SB13). The Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources committee reported this out and it has been rereferred to the General Laws and Technology Committee. Another bill from Senator John Edwards (D-21) would remove the ability of the Department of Wildlife Resources to charge a fee for boat ramps that the agency manages but doesn’t own. (SB141) The same committee reported this out, and rereferred it to the Finance and Appropriations Committee. Currently localities with combined stormwater and sewer systems have until 2036 to have replacement systems in place. Under a bill from Richard Stuart (R-28), that would be moved up to 2030. This reported out of the same committee by an 11 to 4 vote, and the bill will go to the Finance and Appropriations Committee. (SB534)A bill has passed the full Senate that would add the City of Chesapeake to a list of localities that require an analysis of drinking water. Albemarle County already has this ability. (SB53)Localities would be allowed to require broadband be installed as part of a residential development if a bill from Senator Jennifer Boysko (D-33) is approved. The Senate Commerce and Labor reported that out and it now goes before the Local Government committee. (SB446)Boysko has another bill to be known as Adam’s Law to require private and public higher education facilities to develop anti-hazing policies (SB439). This was reported unanimously from the Education and Health Committee but with one abstention. Legislation is also pending to require the Department of Education to develop guidelines on policies to inform student athletes and their coaches about the dangers of heat-related illness. SB161 was reported out of the Senate Education Committee and is now before the Finance and Appropriations Committee. The Virginia Arts Foundation would be eliminated and its powers transferred to the Virginia Commission of the Arts under one bill (SB597) from Senator Todd Pillion (R-40). The Education and Health Committee unanimously reported this out. A bill from Siobhan Dunnavant (R-12) would allow certain pharmacists to dispense cannabis products until such time as retail sale licenses are available. (SB621) The Education and Health Committee reported this bill out, and it’s now been assigned to the Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee. A bill from Senator Richard Stuart would require cyclists riding two abreast to not impede vehicular traffic passed out of the Transportation Committee on an 11-4 vote. (SB362)Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

In episode 178 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on those that are chosen to decide the future of photography, narrative photographic fiction and the reality of NFTs. Plus this week photographer Carol Golemboski on the challenge of supplying Grant with an audio file no longer than 5 minutes in length in which she answer's the question ‘What Does Photography Mean to You?' Carol Golemboski received an MFA in Photography from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1999 and an MA in Art from The University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1996. She has been the recipient of numerous grants including individual artist fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Saltonstall Foundation and Light Work. Her Psychometry series won the 2007 Project Competition Award from Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Golemboski's images have been published internationally in textbooks and notable photographic journals in the United States, China, France, Spain, Austria and Sweden. She is an Associate Professor and the Area head of Photography at the University of Colorado Denver. In 2013 Golemboski released an interactive artist's book as an iPad app called "Psychometry." It was selected as one of the twelve Outstanding Books of 2013 by the Independent Publisher Book Awards, winning the category of "Outstanding eBook Achievement." Golemboski is represented by the Robert Klein Gallery in Boston and Kevin Longino, Fine Photographs. www.carolgolemboski.com Dr. Grant Scott is the founder/curator of United Nations of Photography, a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, a working photographer, documentary filmmaker, BBC Radio contributor and the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Routledge 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Routledge 2019). 's book What Does Photography Mean to You? including 89 photographers who have contributed to the A Photographic Life podcast is on sale now £9.99 https://bluecoatpress.co.uk/product/what-does-photography-mean-to-you/ © Grant Scott 2021

In today’s Substack-fueled shout-out, Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit the Code for Charlottesville website to learn more, including details on projects that are underway. In today’s installment:Albemarle Supervisors are briefed on status on economic development planning exercise for the area around the Woolen MillsA conversation about policing and security at public housing sitesA new creative director at Live ArtsMartinsville and Henry County agree on reversionThis show is nearly a year old now, having launched to the public the second week of July during the pandemic. Sometimes the various segments come together as a theme. Sometimes, there are just things I want to get on the record, somewhere. In today’s show and for much of this first week of June, there will be a lot of catching up. There’s a new artistic director at Live Arts. Susan E. Evans will take over effective today, arriving from the San Francisco Bay area where she most recently ran the 187-seat Old Town Theatre in Lafayette, California. Before that, she was artistic director at the Douglas Morrison Theatre in Hayward, California and before that she was with the Eastenders Repertory Company, also in the Bay area. “I am drawn to the active verb in Live Arts’ mission: forging—theater and community striving toward bringing folx together, vigorously exchanging perspectives through art,” Evans is quoted in a press release. There were over 140 applications for the position. Live Arts was founded in 1990. The city of Martinsville and Henry County in southside Virginia have reached an agreement in which Martinsville will revert to a town. In late April, the two governing bodies met in a mediated closed session according to the minutes of the May meeting of the Virginia Commission on Local Government. That body must approve the agreement when it is finalized. According to the Martinsville Bulletin, the seven-member Martinsville City Council and the six-member Henry County Board of Supervisors met at a joint meeting on May 26 and agreed on a rough sketch of a memorandum of agreement for the reversion. The agreement doesn’t specify when the reversion will take place, but the two parties have agreed to let the Commission on Local Government pick the date. In 2019, the Albemarle County Economic Development Department began a planning study of the roadway that leads to the Woolen Mills factory, a historic property that has renovated in recent years by developer Brian Roy. The main entrance is along Broadway Avenue, which extends from Carlton Avenue at the border between the city of Charlottesville and Albemarle County. In all, there are about 45 acres of land that were the subject of an interim study presented to the Board of Supervisors in November of 2019. “The goal at that time was to leverage the public and private investment that had taken place and projected to take place at the Woolen Mills redevelopment and the Willow Tree relocation at that site,” said J.T. Newberry in the economic development department. Much of the land is zoned for light industrial use, and several businesses are operating in the area. Construction of the new Woolen Mills Industrial Park is underway. The Board of Supervisors was to have seen the results of an implementation study in April 2020, but the pandemic put a pause on the work.“Nevertheless we have tried to stay engaged with stakeholders on the corridor,” Newberry said. “There have been a number of projects that have continued on the private side.”After the interim study, Albemarle staff met with city staff at least twice, and the blueprint has been run by the Planning Commission, the Economic Development Authority, and the Office of Equity and Inclusion. The latter suggested a new approach to the project following the signing of a memorandum of understanding on the topic by Charlottesville, Albemarle County and the University of Virginia. Roger Johnson is the director of economic development for Albemarle.“We are going to pause our project and go back and review the Broadway corridor through an equity lens,” Johnson said. “We don’t know if that will change anything substantively or not but we expect that it will.” That will include a meeting with the city’s new Deputy City Manager of Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Ashley Marshall. Next steps could include creation of a business association for the area, similar to the Downtown Crozet Association. Another would be to create an arts and cultural district for the location. “Some other types of activities we are contemplating are to complete pedestrian and bike connectivity, multimodal streetscape, enhanced public transportation,” Johnson said. Those activities are now considered to be long-term goals. A map of the area covered by the Broadway BlueprintThe Piedmont Master Gardeners and Virginia Cooperative Extension will host an online presentation by author Douglas Tallamy on “The Nature of Oaks” at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 3. Admission is $15. Register by 5 p.m. Wednesday, June 2, at piedmontmastergardeners.org/events to reserve a spot in the program. A longtime professor at the University of Delaware and author of widely acclaimed books such as Bringing Nature Home and Nature’s Best Hope, Tallamy has shown how we can help save nature’s ecological riches in our own backyards. In his latest book, The Nature of Oaks, he explains how adding native oak trees to our home landscapes is one of the best ways to help heal the planet. At the beginning of May, a contract for a security firm to patrol public housing sites lapsed.  At the same, a series of shootings has taken place, including an April 30 incident at Westhaven where bullets struck multiple vehicles and apartment buildings. The Board of Commissioners of the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority discussed the matter at their meeting on Monday, May 24.  Commissioner Laura Goldblatt is a member of the CRHA safety committee and had an update. “There was a lot of discussion and has been a lot of discussion at the past few about the roles that residents want to see for police and what they want policing to look like in their neighborhoods but also the role that they want various community-based safety initiatives to play,” Goldblatt said. “And also a perceived lack of services or a desire for creativity around certain services so we spent a lot of time discussing mental health and trauma services.”Goldblatt said there is a need for trauma counselors who understand the experience of living in public housing. She said some residents have anxiety about the lack of security services at the moment. “I know we have been working towards a [request for proposals] about the various kinds of services we would sent out for,” Goldblatt said. Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker said she’s been meeting Police Chief RaShall Brackney and CRHA Executive Director John Sales about the security issue.“Chief Brackney’s position is that in response to the security firm no longer being present, that they are being asked to increase police presence and this is coming on the heels of a lot of change but a loud community to not having cameras, not having police presence and now there is a request for that increase,” Walker said. “From a community that is asking to defund, where there is being a significant amount of resources being spent on increased patrol on the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday time frame right now.”Charlottesville Police have stepped up patrols in the past few weeks to prevent additional shootings. Chief Brackney is seeking a letter from CRHA about the rules of engagement for future patrols in order to ensure everyone in the community is on the same page with regards to why officers are there. “So that we could be clear that as we were being asked to increase our presence in the community, as we were being asked to use whatever tools and technologies that we have to be able to respond to the increase in violence in the community, as well as the fact that as of May 2, there was no security team or security profile there in the community,” Brackney said. Chief Brackney said she wants the letter to guard against comments from the community about over-policing.“So when there is a lot of presence, I want the community to understand that this is something the residents are asking for of us as well,” Brackney said. Brackney said as of May 20, there had been 121 shootings in the city, with many of them taking place on or near CRHA properties. She said that’s up 51 percent over this time last year. Shelby Edwards, the executive director of the Public Housing Association of Residents, said she was not certain her organization was ready to sign such a letter. “And I love and appreciate the idea of uniformity as far as approach but what I think we always  wonder as we continue to serve the community, if we sign a letter that says we co-signed, and to be clear to the public, we have not co-signed anything, there is no letter quite yet, I just wonder if anyone goes down on CPD’s watch, how would that look for us?”Walker said she supported an agreement because it could set up better relations between police and the community into the future as people in positions of power change. “In the past, police have just come into the community and policed how they want,” Walker said. “I think creating this kind of partnership, having it in writing also gives an example of what future policing looks like if its needed and hopefully we can prevent some of the harm by organization like CRHA and PHAR being able to say ‘hey, this is what we did in 2021 and we want to follow a model similar to that.’”Goldblatt said if there is to be an increase in police presence at public housing sites, she wanted additional mental health services. Chief Brackney said she understood and hoped that police presence would not be required in the future.“I would also wish that we should understand and appreciate that police presence isn’t the only things that are triggering events in our communities,” Brackney said. “It would seem to me that the reasons we’re getting called there should be triggering events for our communities as well. And I’m sure they are. I come from those communities and grew up in those communities.”For the past four weekend, four officers have been dedicated overnight to sites Westhaven, South First Street and Sixth Street and there have been no shootings. “Police presence does make a difference,” Brackney said. “We also know that police presence, people will find a different place to go, and they will find another pathway so we have to be careful that we don’t push it into another community or another area, but that we get to the root causes of it to start.”CRHA Executive Director John Sales said in an email to me today that so far there is no letter, but one is in the works. Stay tuned and more from this CRHA meeting in an upcoming episode of this program.Thanks for reading! If you’re new to the program, I’m Sean Tubbs and I’ve been writing about public policy of and on since I was a student at Virginia Tech. I’m producing this work as a way of helping members of my community better understand what’s happening in local and regional government, as well as the economy that fuels the area. My goal is to bring you information in a way that directs you to new information you may not yet have considered. Let me know if you have any questions! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

David Rigsbee is the author of 21 books and chapbooks, including seven previous full-length collections of poems.  In addition to his poems, he has also published critical works on Carolyn Kizer and Joseph Brodsky, whom he also translated.  He has co-edited two anthologies, including Invited Guest:  An Anthology of Twentieth-Century Southern Poetry, a “notable book” selection of the American Library Association and the American Association of University Professors and featured on C-Span Booknotes.  His work has appeared in AGNI, The American Poetry Review, The Georgia Review, The Iowa Review, The New Yorker, The Iowa Review, The Ohio Review, Poetry, Prairie Schooner, The Sewanee Review, The Southern Review, and many others.  He has been the recipient of two creative writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as an NEH summer fellowship to the American Academy in Rome. His other awards include The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown Fellowship, The Virginia Commission on the Arts literary fellowship, The Djerassi Foundation, and Jentel Foundation residencies, and an Award from the Academy of American Poets.  Winner of a 2012 Pushcart Prize, the Vachel Lindsay Poetry Award, and the Pound Prize, he was also the 2010 winner of the Sam Ragan Award for contribution to the arts in North Carolina. Rigsbee is currently contributing editor for The Cortland Review.Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ScintilliansRead the blog: https://offshoreexplorer.blogspot.com/Buy us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/offshoreexplorerSupport us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OffshoreexplorerLinks:https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/david-rigsbeehttps://blacklawrencepress.com/authors/david-rigsbee/https://rigsbeepoetryconsultations.com/index.html 

Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda ​served as Poet Laureate of Virginia from 2006-2008.​ She is the recipient of a Council for Basic Education Fellowship, three Artist-in-Education grants and an Arts-on-the-Road grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and has won the Ellen Anderson Award, a Virginia Cultural Laureate Award. Her poems, along with those of other Virginia poets laureate, are featured in two art installations at the McLean Metro Station in Northern Virginia. An abstract artist, Dr. Kreiter-Foronda’s paintings and sculpture have been exhibited widely throughout the state of Virginia.

The Virginia Commission on African American History Education suggested policy and content changes to tell a more complete and accurate history of Black Americans.

Blade shared how he teaches with a focus on process over product and bringing his ways of looking and making into his classrooms. He shifted from teaching at the university level through a summer career shift program and just dove into teaching at the elementary level, primarily 2nd grade, this year. What a wild first year! Blade is constantly inspired by the work his early elementary students create and talks about the inventiveness of this age level. He also shares some of his favorite lessons so far and how teaching is akin to improv in some ways. Blade Wynne was born in 1980, in Providence, Rhode Island. He received his BFA in Painting from Pratt Institute in 2002 and his MFA in Painting from Rhode Island School of Design in 2008. His work has recently been exhibited at Shockoe Artspace of Richmond, and The Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art. His work has appeared in publications such as “Journal of the Print World" and "New American Paintings." He is a recipient of the VMFA Visual Arts Fellowship, (Professional Award) as well as the Virginia Commission for the Arts Fellowship in Painting. As an educator he taught 2D design, Painting, and Drawing for several years in the Foundation Art Department at Virginia Commonwealth University and The Governor’s School for the Arts in Norfolk, Virginia. He is currently entering his second year of teaching elementary art in the public school system of Chesapeake, Virginia. I love how Blade has adjusted his own art practice to fit into his life as a busy first year teacher and parent of 3 young kids. He’s growing trees in pots as an art form, as objects to draw or paint from, as sculpture, as a practice that feeds creativity. I can’t help but relate his plants to his students. He spoke about how he gives a little water and helps shape the plants and the plants continue to grow for years. It makes him think about longevity and a brighter future. Children bring me to those hopeful thoughts. Blog post with images and links @bladewynne on Instagram . . . https://befunbekind.com/listing/teach-the-art-of-printmaking-to-anyone/ https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/together-while-apart/ https://www.teachingartistpodcast.com/opportunities/ . . . Follow: @teachingartistpodcast @pottsart Support this podcast. Subscribe, leave a review, or see more ways to support here. We also offer opportunities for artists! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/teachingartistpodcast/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/teachingartistpodcast/support

I’m Stefan Sittig and welcome to AMERICAN THEATRE ARTISTS ONLINE, where we talk with leading contemporary figures in American Theatre. Producing Artistic Director Carolyn Griffin has been with MetroStage in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia since its founding in 1984 and has produced over one hundred main-stage productions, including seventeen plays and musicals that were world premieres, and dozens of cabarets.  She is committed to producing the best contemporary writing and showcasing the best regional artists reflecting the diversity of the DC metro area for a broad-based audience. She has built three theatres by re-purposing nontraditional storefronts (and a lumber warehouse) into intimate well-equipped theatre spaces, and is currently working on a fourth. She has chaired both the Alexandria Arts Forum, which she co-founded, and the Cultural Affairs Committee of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce and has served on regional panels for both the Virginia Commission for the Arts and Kentucky Arts Council. She has received many awards including the Actors Center Award of Distinction, the Cultural Affairs Award from the Alexandria Commission for Women, and the “Helen’s Star”, named after Helen Hayes, from Theatre Washington, “presented to daring visionaries who have shaped and redefined the landscape of Washington theatre.”

As nonprofit and mission-driven leaders, we're dealing with a lot of stuff right now. Here are some tips, advice, and a pep talk to help get us through.  As mentioned in this episode, here are the resources sent out by the Virginia Commission for the Arts for arts organizations. Please reach out to the state or government agency for your particular sector for similar resources.  American Alliance for Museums COVID-19/Coronavirus Resources & Information for the Museum Field, contains advice applicable to museums and other cultural venues.   Americans for the Arts | https://www.americansforthearts.org/ Americans for the Arts (AFTA) has developed a Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resource and Response Center, that includes an Impact Survey. Take part in the survey, and see the multitude of resources (including many listed below).   Also, be advised that this year’s Arts Action Summit has been canceled.   ArtsReady | https://www.artsready.org/ ArtsReady is an online emergency preparedness service that collects and shares resources that help arts and cultural nonprofits plan for and respond to a crisis. ArtsReady has circulated practical examples of measures being implemented by cultural organizations, including this March 6 New York Times article and this February 26 ArtsReady Alert.   CERF+ (Craft Emergency Relief Fund) | https://cerfplus.org/ CERF+ is readiness, relief + resilience for studio artists, ensuring that they are as protected as the work they create.   NCAPER | https://www.ncaper.org/ NCAPER (National Coalition for Arts Preparedness and Emergency Response) has created a list of resources for arts organizations and artists.    Theatre Communications Group’s Coronavirus Preparedness Webinar and the Event Safety Alliance’s Prepare Your Organization for the Coronavirus Disease Outbreak—may be of particular interest to performing arts groups.   The League of American Orchestras coronavirus resources page includes examples of sample audience communications as well as other readiness recommendations.   COVID-19 and Freelance Artists https://covid19freelanceartistresource.wordpress.com/

In this week's episode I share my top three takeaways from this year's Virginia Commission for the Arts (VCA) conference called ArtWorks. Those takeaways are:  There is no greater affirmation of freedom of expression than public funding for the arts. Donors give based on aspiration, even if it's not achievable. Small nonprofits have a lot of advantages over large organizations, specifically their ability to know their donors. I also shoutout the podcast subscribers from our Facebook group who are doing such great work in the nonprofit sector. I'm proud to be among them and appreciate their support. Be sure to check out their organizations if you're looking for someplace to volunteer or donate: Garth Newel Music Center, The Constellation Coalition, and VOYCE. Links for this week: Support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/virtualexecutivedirector Learn more about executive coaching: https://virtualexecutivedirector.com/ Join the MasterMind on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ExecutiveDirectorMastermind/

In anticipation of the Virginia Commission for the Arts event, Town Hall for the Arts, I'm rerunning the conversation I had in the spring with Dirk Moore of Emory & Henry College on the arts and economic development. I'm excited to follow this up in a few weeks with insights from the live Town Hall, so be sure to subscribe for more as it happens.

This past week I was sick as hell, so this week's podcast is a throwback to episodes 20 and 21 about how to identify and prepare for big changes. These are great lead-ins for the talk I'm giving at the Virginia Commission for the Arts conference on Wednesday, anyway, so if you think your organization might be on the verge of a major shift, this should help pave the way. Support the show by: Shopping at Lovoso.com and using promo code SHINE for 10% off your order Becoming a Patreon donor at Patreon.com/virtualexecutivedirector Coming to see Becky live at the Virginia Commission for the Arts "Artworks" conference on Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 3:45pm in Richmond. To register for the conference visit arts.virginia.gov.

This week I got to talk with Dann Williams of Optimum Polymer Technologies. We did a crossover episode to talk about nonprofit and small business--how the two can work together through cause-related marketing, how to work effectively with different personality types, and I even reveal my secret to pre-Festival self-preservation. Support the show by: Shopping at Lovoso.com and using promo code SHINE for 10% off your order Becoming a Patreon donor at Patreon.com/virtualexecutivedirector Coming to see Becky live at the Virginia Commission for the Arts "Artworks" conference on Wednesday, Jan. 30 in Richmond. To register for the conference visit arts.virginia.gov.

This week on the podcast I got to interview Lena Elizer. Lena is a graphic and website designer who works primarily with women small business owners. She is the lead designer for the Virginia Highlands Festival and the designer of the Virtual Executive Director firefly logo. In this episode we talk about one of the most important questions you can ask yourself in the branding process, the biggest mistake people make when they begin the branding process, and the best advice ever about starting your own business. You can find Lena and sign up for her free 7-day branding course at lenaelizer.com. Support the show by: Shopping at Lovoso.com and using promo code SHINE for 10% off your order Becoming a Patreon donor at Patreon.com/virtualexecutivedirector Coming to see Becky live at the Virginia Commission for the Arts "Artworks" conference on Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 2:45pm in Richmond. To register for the conference visit arts.virginia.gov.

Geoffrey Kershner is the Executive Director at the Academy Center of the Arts (Lynchburg, VA) and the founder of the Endstation Theatre Company in residence at Randolph College. He is the winner of the 2015 Vice Mayor's Young Adult Award of Excellence (City of Lynchburg) and was named a 2016 “Top 20 under 40” by Lynchburg Business Magazine. Under his leadership, Endstation was the winner of the 2012 Rising Star Award (Virginians for the Arts), the 2014 Cultural Organization Award (James River Council for the Arts and Humanities), and the 2014 Good Works Award (Downtown Lynchburg Association). In his time at the Academy Center of the Arts, the organization increased need based scholarships for arts programming by 124%, increased the overall operating budget by 110%, and completed a capital campaign for a 30 million dollar historic theatre restoration project (the theatre is scheduled open this December). Geoffrey has served on Virginia Commission for the Arts (Area 2, state wide) grant review panels, was a member of the National Arts Strategies' 2014-2015 Chief Executive Cohort, and completed the Arts and Culture Strategy course through the University of Pennsylvania and National Arts Strategies in 2017. He served as a faculty member at Florida State University, Daytona State College, and Lynchburg College. He earned his BFA from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA and his MFA from Florida State University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As this podcast comes out, I'll be heading to the Virginia Commission for the Arts annual conference in Richmond, Virginia. I know how hard it can be to find the budget for conference attendance, so I thought I'd share with you how to get the most return on your investment of both time and money when you go to conferences.

Did you know I serve as a grant panelist for the Virginia Commission for the Arts? Yep! And now I'm sharing 8 of my top grant writing tips to keep you from wanting to smash your face into your desk.

Claudia Emerson’s books include Late Wife and Figure Studies. Born and raised in Chatham, Virginia, she studied writing at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro; in addition to winning the Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for Late Wife, she has also earned two additional Pulitzer nominations, as well as fellowships from the Library of Congress, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She has also served as poet laureate of Virginia. Her new book is Secure the Shadow.Emerson read from her work on September 20, 2012, in Cornell’s Goldwin Smith Hall. This interview took place earlier the same day.

Poet Claudia Emerson appears at the 2011 National Book Festival. Speaker Biography: All of Claudia Emerson's books, "Pharaoh, Pharaoh," "Pinion: An Elegy," "Late Wife" and her latest work, "Figure Studies," were published as part of Louisiana State University Press's signature series, Southern Messenger Poets, edited by Dave Smith. "Late Wife" won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Emerson's poems have been published widely in literary journals. She has been awarded fellowships by the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Virginia Commission for the Arts. She was also a Library of Congress Witter Bynner fellow. Poet Laureate of Virginia in 2008-2010, Emerson is professor of English and Arrington Distinguished Chair in Poetry at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va. For captions, transcript, and more information visit http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=5275.