Third Fridays

[KCPowercat]

Anybody been to third fridays in the CBD? Nothing like First Fridays in the Crossroads as far as size goes but every 3rd friday the urban design group premiers their new art work in the empty retail store fronts.....

I've never been and need more info....anybody have any?

[trailerkid]

It's called the KC Urban Culture Project and has ties to the Charlotte Street Foundation.

Found this on net a few weeks ago...

http://spectrum.kcmetro.edu/archives/20 ... es/ucp.htm

Revitalizing Downtown:
The Urban Culture Project
By Ryan Brown

Early last year American Century executive and co-founder of the Charlotte Street Foundation David Hughes met with local artists, architects, and building owners to discuss a plan for helping in the revitalization of downtown.

Hughes' belief in a grassroots approach to renewing interest in downtown, mixed with the idea that true urban growth is based on the vitality of a city's artistic community, formed the basis for what the collaborators have termed the Urban Culture Project.

The plan laid out by the Project is to take empty storefront spaces downtown and fill them with locally produced art. The first of these storefront galleries opened on January 17th, at Petticoat and Main near the Town Pavilion. Named "Downtown" by curator Nate Fors, the gallery is currently showcasing works by local artists Fors, Lynn Matlock, James Brinsfield, and David Sindelar.

The storefront galleries serve many purposes at once. They offer destinations to attract people downtown, they help to beautify otherwise empty storefronts, and they provide spaces for artists to show their work.


"Downtown" Gallery
The Project hopes that the storefront galleries will, according to a press release, "progress into a movement within the arts community, and coalesce the visual arts, theatre, dance, music, and, in time, transverse the boundaries of White, Black, Latino, and Asian."

According to Hughes, the galleries are "just a start...part of what we want to do, besides just having the art there, is to do theatre, do dance, have parties with DJs. There ought to be more [young] people...than people my age, because if [young people] aren't there, then it's not going to go because...[people my age] will show up, but peter out at 9 o'clock or something, and these should be going til midnight or two in the morning."

Hughes explains that the storefront galleries were a very cost-effective way to start the Project. "We would rather have a space that you can go into. The reason we started with [the storefront space], is that we started with no money, and the landlord there has paid for the minimal expenses...so we essentially didn't have to pay anything and Kansas City people need to be shown things, so now there is a small demonstration of what we are talking about."

The next opening is set for the 18th of April, at "The Bank," a space located at 11th and Baltimore. The Project plans to open a new gallery the third Friday of every month, continuing in May with "The Paragraph" at 12th and Walnut.

With most plans for revitalizing downtown centering on multi-million dollar solutions, Hughes feels the Urban Culture Project offers a much-needed example of an alternate solution. "This is just one small grassroots [organization], that hopefully will serve as an example for others."

Anyone interesting in volunteering their time to help the Urban Culture Project can contact David Hughes or John Navarre at Jnavarre@kc.rr.com or mail to 1901 Baltimore, Kansas City, MO 64108.