Richmond’s Economic Development: Building New, Reusing Old

Rich Meagher:

This is RVA’s Got Issues. I’m Rich Meagher. We often hear big announcements about businesses coming to RVA. It’s called economic development. But what does this development actually look like? To find out, and I don’t know if five-year-old me would believe it, I end up at the Lego factory. Oh my God, this is big.

Jesus Ibanez:

So-

Rich Meagher:

I’ve been to a Costco, this is a little bit bigger of a room.

You may have heard that Lego is coming to RVA, but there’s actually a Lego facility up and running right now in Chesterfield County. So there I am in a gigantic room with forklifts, people in hard hats everywhere. And behind a low metal barrier, rows and rows of machines are sorting Lego bricks.

Jesus Ibanez:

The bricks are coming off what we call the prepack lines that are on your left.

Rich Meagher:

Jesus Ibanez works in community engagement for the Lego group, and he’s showing me around the facility.

Jesus Ibanez:

What we are doing here, we bring all the bricks or elements, and then we have a warehouse at the end.

Rich Meagher:

Just shelves and shelves of like-

Jesus Ibanez:

Exactly.

Rich Meagher:

… the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, crates and boxes, all the way back.

This is just an assembly facility. The machines are dropping the bricks into pre-packs, those numbered bags of bricks you find in every Lego box. They’re currently importing the bricks, mostly from Mexico, but not for much longer.

Jesus Ibanez:

And we call it the Campus. It’s a Campus-

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Jesus Ibanez:

… the one that we are building.

Rich Meagher:

Jesus brings me back to his office to tell me about what Lego is currently building at a much bigger site nearby. It will be five times the size of the current assembly plant and will actually make the bricks, sort them, and send them on their way.

Jesus Ibanez:

If I remember correctly, around 13 buildings, different buildings, we have what we call the office, and then we have the packaging buildings, and then the molding buildings, and then all the services around.

Rich Meagher:

This new campus is a big get for Virginia. Lots of jobs, tax revenue. And LEGO was reportedly considering 40 different states to come to. So I asked Jesus, why here? Why Chesterfield?

Jesus Ibanez:

I think, uh, we’ve, since the very beginning, we felt welcome here from everyone, from the county, from the, uh, greater Richmond area, and from the government as well.

Rich Meagher:

So LEGO feels welcomed by Chesterfield, which is nice. But behind the scenes, the county, the region, the state did a lot. Finding a spot, lining up partners, recruiting workers, they had to fight to land this deal. So today on our show: economic development. What does it take to land these deals? And what does it mean for us to get them? That’s coming up on RVA’s Got Issues.

Jennifer Wakefield is the president and chief executive officer for the Greater Richmond Partnership. Her job is to attract businesses and industries to RVA, and she’s here today to talk about a key goal of her organization. Something she says could be an economic game changer for RVA. Jennifer, welcome.

Jennifer Wakefield:

Thank you. Appreciate being here.

Rich Meagher:

So before we get to that game changer, Jennifer, I did wanna talk about the game a little bit, right?

Jennifer Wakefield:

<laugh>

Rich Meagher:

Your job is recruiting businesses to RVA, and I don’t think people really understand, like, why do we need to recruit? Like, what- justify your existence, Jennifer. Like what, what do we need you for, right?

Jennifer Wakefield:

Well, we are a public-private partnership.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Jennifer Wakefield:

So we are governed by the four localities that we represent. So the city of Richmond, the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover, and Henrico, and about 120 private sector companies. We wanna make sure that we have a diverse economy.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Jennifer Wakefield:

Uh, and that there are opportunities for everyone who lives here.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. So I think this idea about, like, recruiting businesses, right? It, it is an art form. Uh, and it’s not just, like, it’s not any business, right?

Jennifer Wakefield:

It’s not.

Rich Meagher:

It’s not necessarily like a, a dry cleaner or a restaurant, right?

Jennifer Wakefield:

Yeah.

Rich Meagher:

That stuff does materialize. It’s more like these big industries that can decide where they get to go.

Jennifer Wakefield:

Exactly. It is industries that are primary industries. And so any type of dry cleaner restaurants, those follow where people tend to go. And so we focus specifically on targeted industries. Our targeted industries, we just did an analysis, a new strategic plan a year and a half ago with, uh, EY. Uh, those are advanced manufacturing.

Rich Meagher:

Mm.

Jennifer Wakefield:

Corporate services, IT, uh, and life sciences. And then we also created a few new emerging industries of aviation and defense and energy.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. And because the idea these are jobs that, you know, the pharma company could locate in Richmond, but they could go to Wyoming or they could go somewhere else, right? So you have to try to convince them, or you might be part of the effort, right, to convince them to come to Richmond instead of someplace else, right?

Jennifer Wakefield:

We’re a big part of that effort. Um, we almost never compete with Wyoming. I know you’re just throwing that out there.

Rich Meagher:

<laugh>

Jennifer Wakefield:

Um, but, you know, one of the communities that we compete almost all the time against and our number one competitor, I often like to say them, and I use their name kind of like I’m a pirate, um, Raleigh.

Rich Meagher:

<laugh>

Jennifer Wakefield:

Um-

Rich Meagher:

I knew you were gonna say it.

Jennifer Wakefield:

They are the bane of our existence.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. Yeah.

Jennifer Wakefield:

Right? And so, uh, Virginia, all day, every day competes with North Carolina. Richmond all day every day competes with Raleigh. We are a similarly sized market, but people know about Research Triangle Park because since the 1950s, they’ve been telling everyone how amazing they are.

Rich Meagher:

One of the things that you have to do, right, you have to sell these companies on coming here, you have to sort of pitch, like, why it’s a good place for their workers, for their company. Um, you also might offer some incentives, right? The, the governments might say, “Well, here’s a couple of tax breaks or here’s a cheap deal on land.” Um, you do have to be careful though not to give up more than you’re gaining, right?

Jennifer Wakefield:

Yeah.

Rich Meagher:

Um-

Jennifer Wakefield:

In- incentives are never going to make a bad deal good.

Rich Meagher:

Hmm.

Jennifer Wakefield:

They’re only gonna make a good deal better. And unfortunately, incentives are just a necessary part of economic development.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. So what would be, what would a bad deal look like? Like what makes something a bad deal as opposed to a good deal?

Jennifer Wakefield:

Virginia is not gonna go after a bad deal. We are going to make sure that we have done our due diligence at the regional, at the state, and at the local level to make sure that this company is who they say that they are, that they have the funding, uh, that they’re looking for, that their plans are all solidified. Typically, when a company is going for incentives, obviously they’re in growth mode. And so that means that they are looking to hire employees. They are looking to build a facility or renovate a facility, and so that’s capital investment. And so those are tax dollars that get poured into the community.

Rich Meagher:

So let’s get to the game changer, right? I, I was really surprised by this because it’s, it’s not about businesses necessarily, right? It’s about the airport, right? That the big goal, uh, is actually getting a nonstop international flight-

Jennifer Wakefield:

Well-

Rich Meagher:

… To leave out of RIC, right?

Jennifer Wakefield:

It’s directly tied to our ability to win more projects in the future.

Rich Meagher:

Right.

Jennifer Wakefield:

So, um, each year we do perception research with corporate executives and with site location consultants. These are these consultants that are involved in about half of all economic development projects.

Rich Meagher:

Mm.

Jennifer Wakefield:

There’s only about 200 of them. We know who they are. We interact with them at conferences, we keep in touch, and so they know us. And so consideration of Richmond among site location consultants has grown from 20% to 90% in the last five years.

Rich Meagher:

Meaning 90% of, of this group of 200 are considering Richmond for deals?

Jennifer Wakefield:

They have considered Richmond for a deal in the past.

Rich Meagher:

Okay.

Jennifer Wakefield:

Uh, in that same survey, when we talked to corporate executives, when we asked them if they had ever considered Richmond as a place to expand or relocate, we asked them back in 2021, 2% of corporate executives said yes. That number increased last year to about 56%, so that’s fantastic news for us. Then we asked them what is the largest weakness? And what we’ve seen creeping up as a major weakness for us is lack of direct air service. That has happened in our conversations with site location consultants. It’s been in the research building up larger and larger. Last year when we did this research, it was the number one reason why people would not consider locating a project here. So it becomes a competitiveness issue for us.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. So Richmond’s not badly located, but the Richmond Airport itself currently lacks that flight to Europe, that direct flight to Europe.

Jennifer Wakefield:

I like to say oftentimes our location is our best advantage and our biggest disadvantage at the same time. We are centrally located on the East Coast. We’re equidistant between Maine and Miami. We’re in the Eastern time zone, so that’s great for companies that are in Europe. In fact, Richmond top employers with European operations, there are 7,000 employees in Europe working at 300 locations of companies that are based in Richmond. Then conversely, European firms that have a Richmond operation, there are 100 European firms in Richmond, 8,000 employees in Richmond, and 28 different locations. And so when we’re losing out on projects, it oftentimes is because we are so close to both Dulles and Raleigh, and they tend to have international flights.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. So you’re arguing here that if we had even just one international flight in Richmond that goes to Europe, we would be able to tell these companies, “Don’t cut us out immediately. Like keep us on the short list-

Jennifer Wakefield:

Exactly.

Rich Meagher:

… for whatever your project is. Your company, your factory, your relocation, whatever you’re doing.”

Jennifer Wakefield:

Absolutely. So in that research last year, for the first time we asked, if we had a direct flight to Europe and/or additional service to the West Coast, would we be eligible for more projects? 75% of respondents said, absolutely, yes.

Rich Meagher:

Wow.

Jennifer Wakefield:

You will have more opportunities for what we sometimes like to call an at-bat opportunity.

Rich Meagher:

<laugh>

Jennifer Wakefield:

Right? Not everything is a home run, but if we can’t get an opportunity to get up to the plate, uh, then we’re not gonna win that project. So having a direct connection to Europe via a direct flight out of our airport, uh, will help us be able to compete for more projects.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. And so this isn’t a guarantee that we’re gonna get any of these projects, right?

Jennifer Wakefield:

Correct.

Rich Meagher:

But you’re confident that if you can get in the door, if we can make the case for Richmond, you’re more likely to land at least some of these to hit some of these singles, doubles, maybe even a home run.

Jennifer Wakefield:

That is correct. And so the Greater Richmond Partnership has formed an air service task force that is made up of many of our members, and we’ve been working very closely with our friends at Richmond International Airport to create a organization of private sector colleagues that are very interested in trying to support a direct international flight. And so what happens is oftentimes airlines just like any business are, are risk averse, right?

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Jennifer Wakefield:

And they want to, you know, know that things are going to work out. Um, there’s no guarantee in that. And so oftentimes, especially if you’re a mid-size city, what you end up doing is you end up offering what’s called a minimum revenue guarantee. And that is support that may end up being tapped into if the flight is not as successful as they had hoped. Costs a lot of money to establish a direct flight.

Rich Meagher:

Right. And so if they’re not getting the bookings that, that they hoped they would get, right, they’re gonna lose money on the flight.

Jennifer Wakefield:

Correct.

Rich Meagher:

So they’re, if they’re worried about that, they’re not gonna set up the flight, these airlines.

Jennifer Wakefield:

That is correct.

Rich Meagher:

Right. But this can’t be government money, exactly, right? It’s not like the airport itself can offer money. They’re limited, uh, by the FAA and federal rules, right?

Jennifer Wakefield:

The airport can’t, but it can be government money.

Rich Meagher:

Okay.

Jennifer Wakefield:

In fact, in most other regions, the state has paid in about 75% of any minimum revenue guarantees that have been offered to airlines directly. Uh, and so that’s the case in Ohio and in Indiana where these other markets have established direct routes to markets that we would like to go to, like a London or a Dublin or a Paris or a Frankfurt. And so the state and local governments can offer support. To date, we have mainly been focused on the private sector side, and we have worked with our friends at Richmond Region Tourism because they have a new development fund called the Tourism Improvement District.

Rich Meagher:

Mm.

Jennifer Wakefield:

And so they have committed to supporting our efforts in trying to recruit a direct airline. Uh, I can’t go into specifics, but we have had some meetings with some airlines, uh, that have been very positive.

With that said, there are also things that are happening at the national level and at the global level with geopolitics and fuel pricing-

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Jennifer Wakefield:

… And fleet availability that are completely outside of most anyone’s control.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. And so that complicates any effort to do anything these days. But, uh, I, I wonder about this, right, that, that, you know, I understand the private companies getting together and pooling some money and-

Jennifer Wakefield:

Correct.

Rich Meagher:

… And that, that can create some funds, but I, I also understand when you’re doing big stuff like that, you usually need government to, to play a role, but that also brings in taxpayers, right? That sort of puts taxpayers on the hook. And so it’s one thing if you’re getting, like, all of our big employers to, like, kick in some money and, and that’s none of my dollars, right? But once it becomes my dollars, then I might be more interested in, like, is this really gonna pay off? Is this just you’re … Wait, wait, you’re gonna give my money to airlines for the hopes that we might lure some companies here. Y- y- you know how-

Jennifer Wakefield:

Yeah.

Rich Meagher:

… that might sound to taxpayers?

Jennifer Wakefield:

So first, it’s not giving money to anyone.

Rich Meagher:

Okay.

Jennifer Wakefield:

It is putting money in a fund that could potentially be drawn upon if the flight is not successful. So it’s knowing that there is a commitment to potentially have funding that if the flight is not successful, the airline can be backed up.

Rich Meagher:

Mm-hmm.

Jennifer Wakefield:

But oftentimes what happens is the airlines hope that they don’t have to tap into those.

Rich Meagher:

Right.

Jennifer Wakefield:

Right? They want the flight to be successful. And in flight, some of the airlines that we have had conversations with have said that they’ve never started one that they have pulled, which is absolutely great news. And so right now, we are trying to raise funds-

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Jennifer Wakefield:

… from both the private sector as well as from the public sector to see what total amount we can have so that we can share that information with partners that we’ve been working with at different airlines in consideration for flights for 2027 or 2028.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. And I know your job is to envision the, like, the, the good way, but the bad way-

Jennifer Wakefield:

I’m the cheerleader for the region, Yes.

Rich Meagher:

Right. And so the, but the bad way could be, you know, global war creates, you know, too much pressure on fuel prices and nobody wants to fly anymore and the businesses don’t relocate because the economy has a downturn, right? Then that does leave taxpayers footing the bill if, if this guarantee, if the flight’s there.

Jennifer Wakefield:

Depends on how all this would kind of shake out and how this would work. So based on what’s going on right now, right, that would say whether or not an airline may establish something for right now. You know, it might not happen next year, could happen the year after that. The fund is really just set so that when an airline decides to establish a route, if they need to draw down on it, then they would.

Rich Meagher:

And so where would the government funding come from? Is this like something you go to the general assembly and ask them to do? Uh, is this something that you ask, you know, as part of the Greater Richmond Partnership working with local governments to say, let’s pool some resources from the local government?

Jennifer Wakefield:

Could be all of the above.

Rich Meagher:

Okay.

Jennifer Wakefield:

Um, and so there was some legislation originally that was going through the general assembly related to this that did not survive. However, there are still possibilities for other sources of funding from the state, uh, and so we’ve begun to have some initial conversations about what those could be and if those could be a reality.

Rich Meagher:

Let’s go back to the flight itself.

Jennifer Wakefield:

Mm-hmm.

Rich Meagher:

Um, because I know the benefit for people in Richmond, they’re just thinking like, “Oh, that’s cool. And a, a flight to, to Europe.” I mean, I, I hate going up to the DC airports, right?

Jennifer Wakefield:

Mm-hmm.

Rich Meagher:

It’s really nice to hop on flights at RIC. Um, so how do you think this connection between, “Oh, that’s nice. I can maybe go to Europe one day without having to go up to DC,” versus what you’re talking about, which is that this might open up a whole new world of economic opportunity for the region.

Jennifer Wakefield:

Yeah. We, we don’t want it to be that’s nice. We want it to be use that flight when it opens up, right?

Rich Meagher:

<laugh>

Jennifer Wakefield:

Because we’re not gonna get to keep it unless it’s utilized from a business perspective, and one of the things that we haven’t really touched on is the tourism perspective as well. So there’s a lot of people that are already going over to Europe, both for business as well as for tourism, uh, and there are people that would be coming this way as well. And so when we are able to secure an international flight through Richmond International Airport, what we need is the residents here to take that flight.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Jennifer Wakefield:

Don’t go to Dulles, right? And, you know, please do take that flight because what happens is if that flight is successful, what we’ve seen in many other midsize cities is that then other airlines-

Rich Meagher:

mm-hmm.

Jennifer Wakefield:

… will open up to other destinations. And so then we will have other European connections as well, not just one.

Rich Meagher:

Jennifer Wakefield is president and CEO for the Greater Richmond Partnership. Thanks, Jennifer.

Jennifer Wakefield:

Thank you.

Rich Meagher:

Coming up, economic development is often about building something new, but what if sometimes it’s about doing more with something you already have? That’s when we come back on RVA’s Got Issues.

This is RVA’s Got Issues, upcycling, repurposing, creative reuse, whatever you call it, the idea is to take supposedly unwanted things and put them to use, give them new life. It’s an exciting way to think about going beyond recycling, and it’s also a national movement that’s come to Richmond. Amy Turner is the executive director of SCRAP RVA, which is kind of a store, but it’s also a whole lot more, right?

Amy Turner:

Yes.

Rich Meagher:

Amy, welcome.

Amy Turner:

Thank you. Thank you. Nice to be here.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. And so I have actually never been to SCRAP.

Amy Turner:

Oh, no.

Rich Meagher:

So, so when I walk into SCRAP, like, what, what do, what do people see when they walk in? What do I see?

Amy Turner:

Uh, it’s a wonderland.

Rich Meagher:

<laugh>

Amy Turner:

<laugh> It’s a craft wonderland.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Amy Turner:

Uh, we have a nice new big space that we’ve been in. And so you walk in very bright and open and just crafts, arts, inspiration-

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

… is everywhere.

Yeah, but-

Amy Turner:

Floor to ceiling.

Rich Meagher:

Floor to ceiling inspiration. So like, what kind of stuff? Like, what are some of the things you have?

Amy Turner:

Well, everything from fabric to floral to office to, uh, fine art supplies, jewelry, yarn, books, magazines, vintage, the parts for crafts. So we don’t take, you know, finished items like curtains and sheets and things like that or chotchkes that could go to the thrift store. Think of it as if it can be used in your project or, or upcycled, repurposed, go farther with it, with the inspiration.

Rich Meagher:

But I, you know, I’m just, uh, uh, for me, and I, I’m not gonna say this, I always tell my kids, growth mindset, you could be different from what you are. Like, I don’t consider myself super creative with making things. So I might look at a pile of junk, you know- quotes, air quotes here, and think like, we couldn’t do anything with any of that. I’m gonna guess that you have a-

Amy Turner:

Oh.

Rich Meagher:

… maybe more of a sense of-

Amy Turner:

Trust me.

Rich Meagher:

… what to do with it.

Amy Turner:

Everything has a second use beyond what you think, uh, like old CDs might be scratched or you don’t even have a CD player anymore, but we do a lot of, um, especially kids crafts with make little CD spinning tops with it-

Rich Meagher:

Mm.

Amy Turner:

… or you can weave on it with yarn. You know, take that and it becomes something else. And especially it’s fun for kids with this almost obsolete technology-

Rich Meagher:

<laugh>

Amy Turner:

… To show them, you know, the stuff that, what is this? Yeah. They don’t even know, but it can be something else.

Shopper #1:

I bought this wooden dowel and this tassel rod for a project that I’m doing in class. I’m making a wall hanging inspired by, like, old funerary art banners.

Shopper #2:

I got this cool, like, reflective looking paper, a lot of glue, and this cool bunny mask. I’m actually a local drag queen, so I’m gonna use a bunch of this stuff for different outfits.

Shopper #3:

I bought fabric for my outfit for my baby shower on Sunday, a hoodie set, and I wanna drape it with this foil, and then we’re gonna design the bibs at the shower, so I got some fabric paint.

Rich Meagher:

So just earlier on this episode, right, we heard about this multimillion dollar effort to bring an international flight to Richmond, right? Bringing new businesses in. And I think that’s traditionally how we think of economic development, right? You, you put in big money and you get something new, uh, but your mission is, is kind of the opposite or, or certainly very different, right? It’s, it’s to do more with what we already have at a, at a lower cost. Why is this approach something that, that kind of speaks to you?

Amy Turner:

There’s no need to throw things away. We are such a throwaway society these days that everything pretty much has a second life, or it can have a second life. And we do a lot of workshops or try to have inspirational, you know, just examples around the store to show you what you could do. We go into schools, we talk to kids trying from a young age to say, “You don’t have to throw this away. Just because this looks like trash, think of it differently. What else could this be? Let’s keep it going, the circular economy of craft, of, of art, of ideas.” It’s a community effort, basically, that your items then affect somebody else.

Rich Meagher:

Mm.

Amy Turner:

And it’s this, it, this cycle and it just keeps going.

Rich Meagher:

So like you’re saying, uh, like the sort of the keep, the keep going thing-

Amy Turner:

mm-hmm.

Rich Meagher:

I mean, this, this is kind of catching on, right? There are stores and places all over the country. Your particular network that, that SCRAP RVA is part of is, is relatively small, right? I think there’s like four places-

Amy Turner:

mm-hmm. There are four of us across the US.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Amy Turner:

We’re based out of Portland, Oregon. We have a sister store in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Baltimore, Maryland. But yeah, the creative reuse centers, there’s about, uh, 10 or 11 of us in Virginia now-

Rich Meagher:

Mm.

Amy Turner:

… that just keep popping up. Every city needs one.

Rich Meagher:

I, and I imagine some things about Richmond help support your particular place, right? You know, VCU has this big-

Amy Turner:

Definitely.

Rich Meagher:

… artist community. Are there other things about Richmond that make SCRAP or make creative reuse work well here?

Amy Turner:

Definitely the art center. This, there’s a history-

Rich Meagher:

Mmm.

Amy Turner:

… around here. We have an older city, older things, older people, older artists, and so it’s all the vintage, the old 100 year old magazines that are in pristine condition or, you know, vintage jewelry. It’s a treasure to open up every box of a donation. You just never know-

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Amy Turner:

… what’s gonna be in there.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. I mean, so you, you mentioned a few things before, but I’m wondering if you have other stories, like, what has surprised you? You’ve opened up a box and what did you find in there?

Amy Turner:

Well, one of the grandma’s, uh- we opened up, was a box of just old thread or something, and there was $100 in there.

Rich Meagher:

Oh, okay. <laugh>

Amy Turner:

<laugh> That was her storage for that.

Rich Meagher:

<laugh>

Amy Turner:

Or, you know, we get baby teeth that must have been, you know, their stash or, you know, underwear and, and, and a joint-

Rich Meagher:

<laugh>

Amy Turner:

… and, you know, think anything and everything that you can imagine. <laugh>

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. Yeah. And then, is it like each thing, maybe not the joint, uh-

Amy Turner:

<laugh>

Rich Meagher:

… but the, is it each thing like, are you already imagining what it could be when you see it or is it, do you see their potential or you’re just like, “This is old school, someone else is gonna figure it out? “

Amy Turner:

I, I think I’ve found, I think I’m an old lady in, in, in, in this body because I love anything retro, vintage, it just talks to me.

Rich Meagher:

Mm.

Amy Turner:

We get these magazines and you look at the date and it’s like 1890 and it just blows my mind that this is centuries-

Rich Meagher:

You’re- …

Amy Turner:

It’s my passion. <laugh>

Rich Meagher:

It is. You, you are clearly passionate about this. Like you have a, a love for the reclaiming.

Amy Turner:

Yes.

Rich Meagher:

How’d you get into this? It’s not like you go to school for-

Amy Turner:

<laugh>

Rich Meagher:

… Creative reuse, right?

Amy Turner:

No, not really. I, I did go to VCU. I was an art major, uh, in the crafts department. Uh, jewelry design was my specialty.

Rich Meagher:

Mm.

Amy Turner:

And so from the beginning, even before I heard of creative reuse, I was doing a lot of crafts and jewelry, playing with bottle caps or playing with cutting up, um, soda cans or making jewelry and art and frames. So I, I was doing shows, you know, just doing markets and things like that, that I’ve always kind of been in the art community still. And I stumbled across SCRAP RVA one day and fell in love, like everybody, and then it came out that they needed help. I said, “Me, me, me. “

Rich Meagher:

<laugh>

Amy Turner:

And I’ve been here for eight years and it’s, it’s the best job. <laugh>

Rich Meagher:

<laugh>

Shopper #1:

I think it’s so great. There’s so many art students in Richmond just because of VCU and I know so many people who come here, um, because of how affordable it is.

Shopper #3:

Fabric is really expensive. I used to really love going to Joanne’s, but Joanne is gone, so this is the only place I can go now.

Shopper #4:

This is where some friends of mine told me I could get rid of material, so I don’t want it to go in the landfill.

Shopper #5:

I thought it was a lot more, like, crafty at first, but no, it’s, you find a little bit of anything in there for real, for real.

Rich Meagher:

Now, you, you mentioned this before. SCRAP is a store, but it’s not just, uh, like a thrift itself, like donating and buying. Like you do have this kind of whole education piece, right?

Amy Turner:

Definitely.

Rich Meagher:

The classes, the online webinars, uh, even the guides, like sort of take home guides-

mm-hmm.

Amy Turner:

… and online guides. Why is that important to you to, to have that part? Why can’t you just leave it alone as like-

Rich Meagher:

Oh.

Amy Turner:

… we have stuff and we-

Rich Meagher:

No, no, no.

Amy Turner:

… we share it.

It, once again, it’s all about inspiring, starting the kids young-

Rich Meagher:

Mm.

Amy Turner:

… because once you start inspiring and get that little artist forming, then then they grow up knowing they can reuse and use things and keeps it going. So we’re trying to focus more and more on children’s programming, youth programming, um, where we do go into schools, we have an afterschool program with the Richmond Public School system. Um, we go to elementary schools once a week during the school year and, you know, we take a project and we talk about creative reuse. Um, but we, we go into, like, retirement communities, talk to seniors. We do tabling events, but most of our classes are in store catering to adults, but also kids. We have kids camps, we do birthday parties, all centered around, obviously, a project.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Amy Turner:

That’s creative reuse.

Rich Meagher:

Do you see the light come on in people’s eyes-

Amy Turner:

Yeah, you do.

Rich Meagher:

… when you do this stuff?

Amy Turner:

Oh, Yeah.

Rich Meagher:

I- is it, um, you know, I can, I can imagine the kids, right? But I’m wondering about, like, the grownups, um, d- do you see, like, a, a-

Amy Turner:

Definitely.

Rich Meagher:

… a switch go off.

Amy Turner:

Yeah. Because they’re like, uh, I’m not artistic.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Amy Turner:

I’m not creative at all.

Rich Meagher:

I mean, I just said it earlier, right? I, I, I don’t do that stuff.

Amy Turner:

Yeah. I’m not- I can’t do that. And then they do.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Amy Turner:

And then it’s the, it, it’s a childlike reaction where, wow, I made that. You’re never too- never, ever too old to keep learning, keep playing.

Rich Meagher:

So I have to ask about naughty collage night.

Amy Turner:

<laugh>

Rich Meagher:

<laugh> What is that?

Amy Turner:

It’s, it’s been amazing.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Amy Turner:

We got in a huge donation of vintage Playboys.

Rich Meagher:

Mm.

Amy Turner:

And so we kind of decopage, we, tins or frames or, you know, light switch covers.

Rich Meagher:

<laugh>

Amy Turner:

Just anything fun and funny. And it’s kind of this adult … We do craft noons for kids-

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Amy Turner:

… but this is our adult crafter after hours. We call it crafter hours.

Rich Meagher:

Crafter hours.

Amy Turner:

Crafter hours.

Rich Meagher:

SCRAP after dark, right?

Amy Turner:

Yes. Yes. That it is … It’s been … It sells out every time and it’s so much fun. Just to let loose. You just, you’re finding images, you’re putting things together that make you happy.

Rich Meagher:

Amy Turner is the executive director of SCRAP Creative Reuse in Richmond. Thanks.

Amy Turner:

Thank you for having me.

Rich Meagher:

That’s our show. Thanks to our guests, Jesus Ibanez, Jennifer Wakefield, and Amy Turner. Tell us about your issues. Visit our website, RvasGotissues.vpm.org. Follow us on Instagram @RichGotissues, or send us an email at [email protected]. Be sure to leave a review on your favorite podcasting platform. RVA’s Got Issues is produced by Max Wasserman and Rachel Dwyer. Script editing on this episode by Nicki Stein. Audio mixed by Steve Lack. Our theme music was composed by Alexander Hitchens. Shawn Freude is our executive producer. Steve Humble is VPM’s chief content officer. Rebekah Sausmikat is our Canva operations supervisor. I’m your host, Rich Meagher. Thanks for listening.