About Monica

Monica Kinsey is an arts administrator and curator based in Richmond, VA. She is the Planner/Secretary for the City of Richmond’s Public Art Commission and a member of the Mayor’s Arts and Culture Advisory Group. She also curates exhibitions of Richmond-based artists for Ours in the Fan.

 

Monica earned her MA and BA in Art History from Virginia Commonwealth University, where she served as the President of the Art History Graduate Student Association, acted as an Arts Educator for the Art of Nursing Program at VMFA, and received the Bruce M. Koplin Award in Museum Studies. Between 2016 and 2019, Monica provided volunteer coordination for 10 Richmond arts events, including 1708 Gallery’s InLight, CURRENT Art Fair, the Mozart Festival, the Visual Arts Center of Richmond’s Collector’s Night Art Auction, and more. She has worked for a variety of art spaces and organizations in Richmond, including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Page Bond Gallery, ADA Gallery, 1708 Gallery, the Capital One Art Program, and The Anderson at VCUarts.

 

While holding various roles at The Anderson including Programming Coordinator and Interim Director between 2019 and 2024, Monica oversaw approximately 100 exhibitions in 12 exhibition spaces, managing 60 events a year. Some of her accomplishments at The Anderson include introducing an annual staff exhibition, curating the 2024 VCUarts MFA Thesis exhibition, collaborating with VCU's James Branch Cabell Library to establish a corresponding exhibition opportunity for their annual Book Art Residency, broadening the scope of a curatorial class taught at the gallery, establishing a semesterly screening of student video work, expanding the internship program and professional development offerings, increasing cross-departmental collaboration, and boosting public awareness of the Anderson's extensive history and collection.

 

Monica's curatorial projects include: Nothing But Flowers (2026, Ours), State of Flux (2026, Visual Arts Center of Richmond), Kindling (2026, Ours), Outside In (2025, Ours), Serenity Now (2025, Ours), VCUarts' Annual MFA Thesis Exhibition (2024, The Anderson), Yes, I also make work (2023, The Anderson), and Conscious, Subconscious, Collective Unconscious (2022, The Anderson). She has also curated virtual exhibitions of works by Jon-Phillip Sheridan, Austin Miles, S. Ross Browne, and Paolo Arao for the Capital One Art Program.