Farmville native Justin G. Reid is among 120 community members featured on a new City of Charlottesville public art installation, “Inside Out Cville: This Is What Community Looks Like!” The mural was unveiled on the Downtown Mall Sunday, July 28, and is part of the City’s year long Unity Days initiative. Organizers hope to “harness the power of art to heal, unify and make a statement about what it looks like to speak out against injustice.”

As director of African American Programs at Charlottesville-based Virginia Humanities and manager of the General Assembly’s African American Cultural Resources (AACR) Task Force, Reid works across the Commonwealth promoting inclusive cultural preservation and community development. Locally in Charlottesville, Reid frequently organizes public programs exploring history and culture.

In 2018 he co-created the “Unmasking Cville” anti-racism learning series with journalist Samantha Willis. That same year he co-curated the “#UnseenCville” citywide street art exhibition with University of Virginia arts marketing instructor Maggie Guggenheimer and Art History Department chair Dr. Carmenita Higginbotham.

This summer Reid curated a multimedia exhibition entitled “Afro-Virginia: People, Place & Power.” He recently represented the City of Charlottesville on delegations to the West African Republic of Ghana and the National Memorial for Peace & Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. Reid also partnered with City of Charlottesville staff and the Virginia Center for the Book to co-found an after-school arts and literacy program for black male elementary school students.

Reid is a graduate of Cumberland High School, the Governor’s School of Southside Virginia and the College of William & Mary, and is a part-time graduate student at Johns Hopkins University. He is the son of Martha Sears Reid and George Reid Jr. and the grandson of the late Eva Deane Sears, Wellia Sears, Melrose Randolph Reid and George “Pop” Reid, Sr., all of Cumberland. He is a member of the Sharon Baptist Church in Cumberland.