Democratizing the Humanities: A Conversation about Public Humanities Work

Date: Monday, Nov 30, 2026

Start time: 4:00 PM

End time: 6:00 PM

Location: Richmond Salons, University Commons (907 Floyd Avenue, Richmond VA 23284)

Audience: Open to all

Join us for an event in our Repair Speaker Series with David Bearinger, former Senior Director of Grants and Global Virginia Programs at Virginia Humanities, and Gregg Kimball, Senior Historian in Residence at the Shockoe Institute and HRC Community Fellow.

About the Speakers

David Bearinger retired as Senior Director of Grants and Global Virginia Programs at Virginia Humanities in August 2022 and now works as an independent public humanities consultant and writer. For more than 35 years, he coordinated regional and community development efforts at Virginia Humanities and the awarding of more than 4,000 grants in excess of $10 million, reaching every city and county in the state. He continues working closely with Virginia’s state and federally recognized Native tribes and with immigrant and refugee communities from throughout Latin America, Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. In 2018, he conceived and directed “Immigration Stories,” a series of in-depth video-recorded conversations with immigrants and refugees from 29 different countries, resulting in a major exhibition (“New Virginians”) developed in partnership with the Library of Virginia. He currently serves on the Advisory Boards of The Dream Project, Prio Bangla; and as an advisor to the Columbia Pike Documentary Project in Arlington.

Gregg Kimball is the inaugural Humanities Research Center Community Fellow. Currently the Senior Historian in Residence at the Shockoe Institute, Dr. Kimball brings four decades of expertise as a historian and curator, with a deep focus on the American South, African American history, labor movements, and traditional music. Currently the Senior Historian in Residence at the Shockoe Institute, he was formerly the Director of Outreach and Public Services at the Library of Virginia. He holds a Ph.D. in American History from the University of Virginia and an M.L.S. from the University of Maryland, College Park.

As an accomplished author, Dr. Kimball has written numerous articles and essays, along with the book American City, Southern Place: A Cultural History of Antebellum Richmond. His upcoming work, Searching for Jimmie Strother, is set for release in February 2025.

Throughout his career, he has curated major exhibitions such as “Teetotalers and Moonshiners: Prohibition in Virginia, Distilled” (2015), “The Working People of Richmond: Life and Labor in an Industrial City” (1992), and “In Bondage and Freedom: Antebellum Black Life in Richmond, Virginia” (1988).

(Biography courtesy of The Shockoe Institute)

Event contact: Ellie Musgrave, musgraveec@vcu.edu