There’s been a quiet takeover of Richmond’s ICA, says Dr. Pamela Kiecker Royall, and a necessary one. “We believe that there will be all kinds of benefits derived from this new structure.”
In January, the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) was integrated into Virginia Commonwealth University’s top-rated School of the Arts program. It’s a move that both VCU officials, and Royall, the president of the museum’s advisory board, say will lead to expanded programming for arts supporters and more educational opportunities for VCU students.
“The most conspicuous change is that the School of the Arts will now use the ICA for some classes,” says Royall, who also serves as board chair for the Virginia Museum of History and Culture. “And the annual student MFA [thesis exhibition] in the spring will now be held at the ICA. I’ve had people ask me for years, ‘Are you going to show students’ work at the ICA?’ And the reputation of VCUArts is so stellar that it seems appropriate that there be a stronger connection.”
The thinking, at the beginning, was that it was best to keep the ICA, a non-collecting institution at VCU that opened in 2018, separate from the arts school.
“The ICA is a really complex institution,” the late Joe Siepel, dean emeritus of the VCU School of the Arts, said in a 2020 interview. “It has something in the neighborhood of 25 employees and a multi-million-dollar budget. It really is more than the School of the Arts could handle. It would bust the other budgets of the school, so it makes sense that it would be connected [directly] to the university.”
Royall, who pledged $500,000 to the ICA for a newly-established award for arts innovation, the Common Prize, says that it was she and her late husband William Royall – key fundraisers for the ICA’s construction – who originally pushed for the museum to be a separate entity within the VCU organizational structure. “But it’s just obvious at this stage of our development that forcing it to be outside the school of the arts seems unnatural and certainly unnecessary,” she says, adding that the new arrangement is budget friendly.
“The ICA had no student [services] so there was no tuition revenue associated with it. This changes that. The students that participate in the ICA are largely art students and the audience for our programs are largely art students, and our faculty at VCU Arts have contributed curatorily and in terms of producing work that has been a part of our exhibitions. It just makes sense.”
Carmenita Higginbotham, the dean of the VCU School of the Arts, declined an interview with Style Weekly to elaborate on the new relationship. “We are incredibly excited by this addition to the school,” she said in a press announcement. “This partnership will enable us to build on the close and collaborative relationship that VCUarts and the ICA have enjoyed for years, allowing new and innovative opportunities for students and faculty to engage in critical creative research while maintaining a deep commitment to community engagement.” Fotis Sotiropoulos, VCU’s provost, was also unavailable for an interview.
The ICA’s former executive director, Dominic Willsdon, left in December of last year and the ICA is slated to announce the hiring of his replacement by late August [after this issue goes to press]. In an exit interview, Willsdon stated that the decision to integrate the ICA into VCU Arts was the result of “university repositioning” and made after a general review was launched by the provost’s office “to make sure everything the university is doing is serving the core goals.” (In late August, VCU announced Willsdon’s replacement, Jessica Bell Brown, head of contemporary art at the Baltimore Museum of Art. She will assume the director’s chair on Oct. 28).
Willsdon wasn’t sure how the museum’s new arrangement with VCUArts would affect programming, or the autonomy of the incoming ICA director. “I know that it’s largely the same job description that was used when I was hired. But I think it’s a question that should be asked as the new chapter unfolds.” Last year, VCU announced that it would be cutting more than $25 million from its operating budget.
“The provost talked about it with the ICA advisory board, but it was his decision,” says Royall, who points out that the CoStar Center for the Arts and Innovation, now under construction next to the ICA, will be an active collaborator with the museum once it goes online in 2027. “There was little pushback to the decision because it just made sense… and much of the public already thought the ICA was part of the School of the Arts anyway.” The ICA’s fall season begins on Sept. 6.
