Making a Scene
Everybody wants to get into the act.
Whether it’s chalk painting, karaoke singing or gallery-hopping, First Friday serves up an eclectic menu of cultural treats.
Although the holidays have ended, the celebration continues tonight at Las Vegas’ monthly art walk, outdoor festival and all-around headquarters for making the scene.
Now in its sixth year, the downtown fixture attracts thousands of culture-minded locals eager to hobnob with fellow art enthusiasts and check out the latest in an ever-changing, yet ever-familiar array of something-for-everyone attractions.
Although crowds thin out during the chilly winter months, organizers still average “about 5,000 a month” during less frequently attended periods, according to Nancy Higgins, executive director of Whirlygig Inc., the nonprofit organization that produces First Friday. (About 10,000 people attend during warmer months, she notes.)
The secret to First Friday’s continuing popularity?
In part, it’s because the event offers the chance for attendees to experience art — without the snob factor.
“We really work to make art accessible to everybody,” Higgins says.
That includes giving attendees the chance to make as well as view art — whether it’s free stone carving sessions with sculptor Sharon Gainsburg (at Gainsburg Studio, 1039 Main St. No. 103) or chalk drawing on the Colorado Avenue sidewalk, near the First Friday information table, where chalk is available for do-it-yourself artists inspired to express their creativity.
“People love that,” says Whirlygig president Cindy Funkhouser, one of First Friday’s co-founders, who sells art at her downtown antiques store, The Funk House. “We’ve seen participants from 2 years old to people in their 70s” creating chalk drawings. “That’s always really fun.”
Winter’s frigid temperatures, meanwhile, inspire tonight’s Karaoke Challenge Finals, in which contenders from 10 participating clubs compete for $3,000 in cash prizes.
After all, December and January “are very cold for musicians,” says Rick Dominguez, who books the First Friday stage.
Last January, he recalls, bands were booked at the stage and some of the musicians “literally got up there and shook their heads ‘no’ ” due to the cold, which wreaks havoc on guitarists — and their fingers.
A previous one-club karaoke competition went so well, Dominguez and the publisher of Las Vegas Lounge Entertainment Magazine decided to expand it to include 10 bars, stretching from downtown Las Vegas to Henderson.
Each pub will send two contestants to tonight’s finals — contestants who, presumably, will bring friends to watch them compete and cheer them to victory.
“That brings a pretty good crowd and familiarizes them with First Friday,” Dominguez says.
In addition to the contestants, “we’ll offer some time for spectators to come up there” and demonstrate their karaoke stylings, he adds. “We’ve had little kids, moms and pops. It’s a lot of fun.”
Other First Friday venues also have music on the schedule tonight, from Mike Candito’s Jazz Cargo Trio at the Durette Candito Design Studio, 1007 S. Main St., to Billy Dare and the Pumps at 3rd St. Revolution Art Gallery, 224 Imperial Ave. There’s even a didgeridoo player scheduled to perform at The Funk House, 1228 Casino Center Blvd.
As for the array of art exhibits, new shows at Dust Gallery, Trifecta, the Contemporary Arts Collective and the new Fallout Gallery augment displays at more than two dozen venues. New galleries participating in First Friday include the Fallout, featuring lamps by Joe Clark, and its Commerce Street Studios neighbor at 1151 S. Commerce St., Henrik Yde Gallery, which showcases paintings and sculptures by Swiss artist Claudio Banzer.
And that’s not including various participating vintage clothing, thrift, antique and specialty stores, plus neighborhood restaurants and clubs hosting First Friday after-parties.
Despite the new year, “it’s not a time to try something new” due to the cold weather — and the fewer visitors on hand, Higgins acknowledges.
Then again, nobody’s clamoring for much of anything new.
As Higgins observes, First Friday may be the ultimate example of the hallowed principle “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Contact reporter Carol Cling at ccling@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0272.
what: First Fridaywhen: 6 to 10 p.m. today (individual gallery hours may vary)
where: Las Vegas Arts District
admission: Free (384-0092)
FIRST FRIDAY FAST FACTS
New exhibits for January: At Dust Gallery, “On It,” works by Venske & Spänle; at the Arts Factory, Trifecta presents contemporary realist painter Tim Folzenlogen and Contemporary Arts Collective features “extra.ordinary,” an exhibition by emerging Las Vegas artists, Zak Ostrowski, Grayson Ronk and Barret Thomson; at Commerce Street Studios, The Fallout offers “So Rare II,” a new collection of lamps by Joe Clark.
Free live entertainment: On the Land Rover Stage (Colorado Avenue and Casino Center Boulevard), contenders from 10 participating clubs compete for $3,000 in cash prizes at the Karaoke Challenge Finals.
Event location: More than 24 blocks of art and activities in the Las Vegas Arts District and surrounding neighborhood, at the Arts Factory and surrounding galleries and shops, the Holsum Design Center (formerly Holsum Lofts), galleries on Main Street, the Commerce Street Studios and outdoor art and entertainment festivities and antique and art retail open on South Casino Center Drive from California to Colorado avenues. Entrances to First Friday’s fenced Outdoor Festival area are located just south of California Avenue on Casino Center Boulevard, just east of Main Street on Colorado Avenue and just west of Third Street on Colorado.
Parking and transportation: Free parking at the Clark County Government Center, 500 S. Grand Central Parkway; free trolley service from the government center, with stops at the Ice House, Holsum Design Center, Commerce Street Studios, Main Street and Boulder Avenue (the Arts Factory) and Third Street and Colorado Avenue.
Maps and information: A printable First Friday map and detailed information is available online at www.firstfriday-lasvegas.org. Maps also are available anytime at The Funk House, 1228 Casino Center Blvd., Holsum Design Center, Commerce Street Studios and other participating vendors. During tonight’s First Friday, maps will be available at information booths at Holsum Design Center and The Funk House.
