For years, the NoBo Art District has been the place to be every first Friday night of the month for North Boulder’s First Friday Art Walks. But what if the enthusiasm, foot traffic and economic impact of First Friday weren’t exclusive to North Boulder?
That’s the idea behind Citywide First Friday, a new initiative spearheaded by downtown arts nonprofit The New Local and developed in partnership with the NoBo Art District and Boulder Chamber Transportation Connections.
Citywide First Friday builds on the success of NoBo’s event by adding downtown exhibitions, art activations and live music. The NoBo Art District, The New Local and Boulder Chamber Transportation Connections have partnered on a campaign called “Hop & Skip to First Friday,” which offers public transit between downtown and North Boulder and is supported by a Boulder Vision Grant and Boulder Arts and Culture.
“Our role is to help people experience how accessible and connected Boulder is by intentionally linking Downtown First Friday with NoBo First Friday,” said Darcy Kitching, executive director of Boulder Chamber Transportation Connections.
NoBo’s First Friday Art Walk originated in 2009 when a group of artists started organizing to bring more visibility to their work as well as to a lesser-known corner of Boulder.
In those days, downtown was still home to the Boulder Arts & Crafts Gallery, one of the oldest art cooperatives in the country, located at 1421 Pearl St. The space is now occupied by KÜHL. Although artists could sell their work there, most artists didn’t have studios downtown.
“One of the goals … was to bring the audience to the artists where they were working,” said Liz Compos, executive director of the NoBo Art District.
NoBo’s First Friday Art Walks have become one of the best-attended recurring arts events in the city, drawing between 1,000 and 2,000 people in the summer months.
The downtown art scene, however, has struggled to keep up. Low foot traffic during the pandemic and high rental rates forced the Boulder Arts & Crafts Gallery to close in April 2021 after over 50 years in operation. National retailers occupy a growing share of downtown commercial space, while artists and small arts organizations struggle to maintain a presence downtown.
“Because of the economics of our city, it’s not possible for many of the artists that live here to create their work or show their work in the Pearl Street downtown area,” Compos said.
The vision for Citywide First Friday involves taking some of Boulder’s enthusiasm for the arts and spreading it around.
“Having galleries and businesses downtown that want to support arts and culture and have a First Friday Art Walk is incredible,” Compos said. “It increases exhibition and performance opportunities for local artists.”
Marie-Juliette Bird, founder of The New Local, agrees.
“We’re really intentional about working in collaboration with NoBo, because they’ve worked so hard to establish First Friday,” Bird said. “We’re also working with the Chamber on transportation … with the ambition to get more people to First Friday, to help patronize the restaurants and the retailers and to get more flow between the districts.”
Downtown First Friday Art Walk runs from 4 to 7 p.m., earlier than NoBo First Friday Art Walk, which runs from 6 to 9 p.m. The two events are intentionally staggered so that attendees can start downtown and then head to North Boulder. The SKIP bus runs up and down Broadway between North Boulder and downtown.
The ability to visit multiple districts in one night will allow art lovers to see the breadth of Boulder’s creative community.
“Our districts are different,” Compos said. “NoBo Art District is the place where artists are able to create. A lot of [NoBo First Friday] is being able to see inside the artists’ day-to-day and inside their making process, and a lot of the Downtown First Friday has to do with seeing a lovely curation of artists exhibiting and collaborating with local businesses downtown.”
Bird said the downtown event is intended to support existing businesses, not create a separate market of temporary vendors.
“We’re trying to cultivate something that works in collaboration with the brick-and-mortars that hold down the fort all year long,” Bird said. “We are dissuading anyone from doing pop-ups. We invite people to support the business and the restaurants. They’re the backbone of downtown.”
The New Local anchors the Downtown First Friday Art Walk, and other participants include Artie Sandstone, Pine Street Art Studio, Vivi Fine Arts and BMoCA. Colorado Brazil Fest and the Boulder Samba School will perform on the Courthouse lawn. Any local business can host an art activation and get on the map, and attendees can pick up Art Walk maps at The New Local and other activation spots.
The organizations behind First Friday
Bird knows that access to arts and culture can change the trajectory of one’s life. It happened to her.
“I spent my entire childhood in a ballet studio that used to be above Tom’s Tavern, which is now SALT,” Bird said. “My entire life was shaped by that experience of being part of the creative community downtown.”
Bird left Boulder to study dance at Juilliard. Later, she apprenticed in jewelry making in London. When Bird returned to Boulder, she found that the downtown arts scene had largely disappeared.
“There’s a lot of creative culture here and pretty anemic support,” Bird said.
The New Local occupies retail, gallery and studio spaces in the historic Arnett-Montgomery house and the nearby Annex at 741 and 713 Pearl St., respectively. The Annex is supported by the city’s commercial affordability pilot program. Every six months, The New Local mounts a new juried exhibition of work by local women artists. The organization has represented more than 350 local artists.
In North Boulder, the NoBo Art District, currently Boulder’s only designated arts district, has more than 400 members.
“The artists are here all the time, the galleries are here all the time,” Compos said. “We want people to know that NoBo Art District is a place where people can come visit the artists, outside of First Friday.”
What to know if you go
- Downtown First Friday Art Walk runs from 4 to 7 p.m. The next one is Friday, Aug. 7.
- Art activations, exhibitions and live music will take place along Pearl Street, concentrated between The New Local Annex, at 713 Pearl St., and BMoCA, at 1750 13th St.
- Catch the SKIP at Pearl Street and Broadway to reach the NoBo Art District.
- Watch for live music and art activations near the bus stops in NoBo.
- Meanwhile, NoBo First Friday Art Walk runs from 6 to 9 p.m.
