ICA designates Reynolds gallery following $3 million in project donations on her behalf

Janeal Downs
Staff Writer

The VCU Institute for Contemporary Art announced this month that one of the museum’s first-floor galleries will be named after Beverly Reynolds to honor the $3 million donated to the ICA on her behalf.

“So many people know of the hard work she has contributed to the project,” said ICA Public Relations Manager Carrie Culpepper.

Culpepper said Reynolds was one of the people who helped “birth” the idea of the ICA almost 15 years ago.

Reynolds is founder and director of the Reynolds Gallery at 1514 W. Main St. The gallery is a local exhibition space that has supported and showcased contemporary art in Richmond for 30 years.

“Through her gallery, Bev has done much to educate the community about contemporary art and to elevate the level of work being shown in Richmond,” Culpepper said.

For years, Reynolds has also been an active supporter of the arts at VCU, and nearly 80 donors contibuted funds or made pledges to the ICA fundraising campaign on her behalf.

With the contributions of Reynolds and other donors, the ICA has now raised $32.9 million of the $35 million necessary for the project. There is also an ongoing endowment campaign.

“Bev has been a catalyst in bringing innovative and inspiring works of art to Richmond for many years, and her impact on the campaign for the ICA has been just as profound,” said VCU president Michael Rao in an October VCU News article.

According to VCU Public Affairs, co-chairs of the fundraising campaign Bill and Pam Royall, previous ICA donors John and Carolyn Snow and Reynolds’ friends Harmon and George Logan were a few of the many individuals who donated on Reynolds’ behalf.

Located at the intersection of Belvidere and Broad streets, the ICA is expected to open in 2016.

The ICA officially broke ground this summer, shortly before naming Lauren Ross museum curator earlier this fall.

“The ICA is going to be a window into the world of contemporary art, design and performance and as such it will give students opportunities to see new things they wouldn’t normally be able to see unless they traveled to major cities in the U.S. and overseas,” said ICA Director Lisa Freiman in a previous interview with the Commonwealth Times.

The museum will be a noncollecting institution featuring traveling exhibits and events through collaboration with international art instutitions.