The story of America is the story of the struggle to expand human freedom.
Expanding Freedom Premiere
On April 9, 2026, the Shockoe Institute will open Expanding Freedom at Main Street Station in Richmond, Virginia. This new exhibit traces and reveals the enduring impact of American racial slavery on our shared American experience. Visitors are invited to learn and reflect on this history so they may act in ways that help improve our civic life.
A Virtual Book Club
The Shockoe Institute's inaugural Virtual Book Club event, hosted by Founding Artistic Director Leyla McCalla, will feature thoughtful discussion and a Q&A with author Edwidge Danticat, based on her book, Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work. Danticat’s book is a powerful examination of what it means to understand our practices, identities, and work as artists in politically fraught times.
Shockoe Institute Presents — Imagining Solidarity: Afro-Indigenous Future and Perspectives
The Shockoe Institute and the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) are proud to host musicians Martha Redbone, Charly Lowry and Mali Obomsawin as a part of the Shockoe Institute Presents series.
The Shockoe Institute Presents - Religion, Race, and the Enduring Impact of Proslavery Thought in America
Join the Shockoe Institute for a powerful conversation with author Jerome E. Copulsky as we explore his new book American Heretics: Religious Adversaries to Liberal Order, a bold examination of prominent theologians who rejected the idea of a pluralistic, democratic America. Copulsky invites us to consider how these ideas, seemingly at odds with our founding principles, nevertheless shaped, and still shape, American life.