Gaila Sims was in search of creative inspiration as she contemplated what an installation at the former slave auction block site in downtown Fredericksburg might look like.
She found it less than 60 miles away, at the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
“I had a really profound experience there,” Sims, the Curator of African American History and Vice President of the Fredericksburg Area Museum, said at Tuesday’s city council work session. “Just seeing the different ways people were interacting with the memorial, the way it combined interpretive texts and quotations and water and art and seating areas.”
When FAM began the Request for Proposal (RFP) process for the former auction block site earlier this year, Sims said she spent “a not-insignificant amount of time” tracking down the artist behind the U.Va. memorial, Eto Otitigbe, in hopes that he’d submit a proposal for the project.
Sims finally reached Otitigbe through a friend of a friend, and after receiving four proposals and conducting three interviews, a selection committee including representatives from the city, FAM, Fredericksburg Arts Commission and Memorials Advisory Commission voted unanimously for Otitigbe’s E O Studios to design Fredericksburg’s memorial.
“It’s a really big deal,” Sims said. “They’re incredible.”
At its meeting Tuesday night, the city council voted 6-0 to grant FAM $150,000 for the design work of the memorial, which will be located on the corner of Charles and William streets. Vice Mayor Chuck Frye Jr. (Ward 4) was absent from the meeting.
Back in May 2019, city council set aside $250,000 “to tell a more complete story.” Some of those funds were used to offer additional tours and to produce marketing and education materials, Historic Resources Planner Kate Schwartz said at Tuesday’s work session. According to a memo included in Tuesday’s agenda packet, $164,139 remains in the fund.
“In some ways, it puts us on a national and world stage to create this memorial at the corner,” Schwartz said. “It seems like a small place with a big impact.”
Sims said Otitigbe will serve as lead artist, and his team will also include a project manager, two community engagement specialists, a computational artist and a sound engineer.
Once the grant funds are allocated, Sims said FAM will finalize the contract with E O Studios before making a public announcement and soliciting community input. Feedback sessions will be held throughout the spring with design drafts starting to come in next summer and fall.
“It would be a dream to open it for Black History Month 2026, but I don’t want to get my hopes too high,” Sims said.
Sims noted that she’ll also arrange for Otitigbe and his team to meet with local Black community “elders” like Gaye Adegbalola, Sonny Holmes and others who might not be comfortable offering their valuable input at larger events.
“I think we’re going to design a space that’s incredibly moving and profound and does all the things that we’re hoping it does,” she said.
