History and Culture Commission not currently taking on Monument Avenue work

For the immediate future, Monument Avenue will remain as it is in Richmond.

A number of groups and commissions have been tasked with reimagining the space in recent years, but none is doing active work on one of the city's most recognizable streets, according to interviews conducted with committee members.

Former Mayor Levar Stoney created the Monument Avenue Commission in 2017. At the time, it was tasked with exploring the possibility of adding new statues on Monument Avenue, providing context to the existing Confederate monuments and/or removing or relocating them completely. 

The group presented its recommendations in a report a year later, and Stoney tasked the History and Culture Commission in 2019 to execute it.

Things changed in the wake of protests over the murder of George Floyd in 2020, and Stoney ordered the removal of all but one of the monuments, leaving tennis legend and humanitarian Arthur Ashe in place.

The General Assembly allotted $1 million to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in 2021 to create a plan for transforming Monument Avenue, including the then state-owned land where the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee once stood. However, the museum stopped its involvement with the project once the land’s ownership was transferred to the city. 

Currently, that circle is filled with gardens, grass and pavement. And it looks like it’ll remain that way. 

Sylvio Lynch III, who works with the city’s History and Culture Commission, told The Richmonder that the History and Culture Commission has not been involved in discussions to work on Monument Avenue.

“At this time, there’s not much conversation about Monument Avenue on my end,” he said. Lynch joined the History and Culture commission in 2024. 

The commission, which currently doesn’t have a chair, is mainly focused on aligning itself with the cultural and historical goals of current Mayor Danny Avula, which may be different from Stoney’s, Lynch said. 

“Mayor Avula is extremely committed to telling Richmond’s stories about its own history – including slavery, racism, and struggles for empowerment – and finding a healing path forward,” said city spokesperson Mira Signer. “While we have some initial dreams and ideas about what that might look like, we’re still emerging from budget season and focused on immediate needs like water and city operations.” 

The commission aims to serve as an advisory body that will be collaborative in the city’s endeavors to tell Richmond’s history by forging connections between the city and institutions, Lynch said. The group had its last meeting in March. 

“With a new mayor coming in, we’re kind of starting over,” he said.

Contact Reporter Victoria A. Ifatusin at vifatusin@richmonder.org