Meet Heather Crislip, this week’s guest editor. Heather is a Virginia native who relocated to the Fan District from Honolulu in 2008. She has two teenagers, two Great Pyrenees, and an elderly chicken who all sometimes roam the city looking for fun. After leading Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia for almost a decade, she was selected to lead The Richmond Forum in 2021 as they began to return to an in-person audience. Her favorite Forum moment so far was sitting on stage with Michelle Obama in front of thousands of Richmonders to fundraise for The Richmond Forum’s Speech and Debate Initiative for middle and high school students in the region.
Heather is here to give a few recommendations for her favorite things in Richmond, an event, some music, and a special treat.
Take it away, Heather…
The Richmond Forum
It’s almost time! I honestly think that The Richmond Forum is the best event produced in Richmond. I am completely in love with our lineup this season, beginning with Isabel Wilkerson in November. In 2024, we will host Joel Sartore, Liz Cheney, Anthony Fauci, and Nina Totenberg with Kimberley Strassel. It is always delightful to see Richmonders bond with and connect to the national treasures we bring to town. Many people don’t realize that an online subscription gives them the option to upgrade to be in-person at the theater when we open the Ticket Marketplace the Monday before the program.
I’m a die-hard Drive-By Truckers fan. I love their distinctive sound and lyrical content. There’s a Richmond band that is also a part of the newest revival of country music in Virginia. Woody Woodworth & The Piners are named for the bygone expression “to pine” – a deep longing for something or someone. Influenced by Virginia’s deep musical history and Appalachian culture, Woody Woodworth & The Piners fuse storytelling with country, bluegrass, and rock and roll to create a sound that can be described as Appalachian alt-country with a steady shot of southern rock. I love their down-home stage presence and honest vocals, which remind me of the Drive-By Truckers. Their new album, Outlaws and Saints, was released this summer.
This month, a new bakery opened near our office in Shockoe Bottom that offers a delectable array of oatmeal cream pies. We have gone to get them to brighten up a day of tedious work (like when it was all-hands-on-deck for our small staff to mail tickets out to our thousands of subscribers) and plan to hit them up when we host meetings. The shop is fun and I love an unexpected treat, especially when it makes me remember Little Debbie’s in a lunch box. They feel like a hug.
Every year, the world’s most powerful voices come to Richmond, Virginia to share their ideas, stories, and perspectives regarding today’s important issues and to answer your hard-hitting questions.
This season, we will welcome:
• November: Author Isabel Wilkerson with “The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration”
• January: National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore with “Boarding the Photo Ark”
• February: Former U.S. Representative Liz Cheney with “Principles Over Politics”
• March: Dr. Anthony Fauci with “For the Greater Good”
• April: Journalists Nina Totenberg & Kimberley Strassel with “On the Docket”
The first program of the season is just a few weeks away but there is still time to become a subscriber and attend these exciting intellectual evenings. More information about subscription options is available on our website.
