Originally published in the Winter/Spring 2025 edition of the Virginia Defender, issue 76, printed March 26. Reproduced here for accessibility and archival purposes. To find other stories in the Winter/Spring 2025 issue or to download the full PDF, see this post. For other issues dating back to 2012, see the Full Issues page.

By Ana Edwards

Team Henry Enterprises, a Norfolk-based, Black-owned construction firm, has been selected by the Shockoe Institute Foundation to turn the 12,000-square-foot ground floor area of the Main Street Station into the welcome and interpretive center for visitors to Shockoe Bottom.

Founded in 2006 by Devon Henry, the company’s portfolio includes the UVA Memorial to Enslaved Laborers, University of Richmond Burying Grounds Memorial Gardens and The JXN Haus in Jackson Ward.

Team Henry also is the firm that in 2021 agreed to take down the statue of Robert E. Lee on Richmond’s Monument Avenue, a job that brought with it serious threats of bodily harm.

Team Henry began construction in February and is expected to be finished by the end of this year.

Funded by an $11 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to the city of Richmond, the Shockoe Institute’s design and construction represents the first phase of the 10-acre Shockoe Project memorial park. Learn more at the Shockoe Institute website here or the Team Henry website here.

New Orleans-based musician Leyla McCalla has been hired as the founding artistic director of the Shockoe Institute. McCalla is the 2024-25 University of Richmond Artist in Residence and a member of a group of four Black female banjo players called Our Native Daughters, whose first album in 2019 was named one of the best albums of the year by National Public Radio.

Once a member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops along with artist Rhiannan Giddens, McCalla has been a solo artist since 2014, performing all over the world. In a recent Instagram post, she had this to say about her new role with the Shockoe Institute:

“I’m just so honored to be collaborating with this organization to be creating artistic programming which I feel is so important to engaging this history. This cause is something really dear to my heart and it really feels like a big part of my mission as an artist and on this planet.”

McCalla will “curate events that encompass a range of cross-disciplinary performances, readings and panel discussions presented by artists of all mediums, who are exploring the stories that emanate from our shared histories.”

To learn more about the artist and her work, follow these social media tags: #shockoeinstitute and #leylamccalla. Also, see her University of Richmond Artist in Residence profile here.