Saturday, September 1, 2007

First Friday September 7th

Here it comes again!! First Friday!

Big news in the paper about UR and the Modlin Center for the Arts stepping up downtown-style. Thanks, y'all! What the city won't do, the West End will!

Of course, there is always more to the story (as I wrote to the RTD)


Thank you for your piece concerning Curated Culture, First Fridays, and
the Modlin Center at University of Richmond.

As a member of art6 gallery, I am thrilled for this wonderful gift from UR and look forward to Christina Newton's continued hard work for this downtown event.

Here are two additional points to consider:


1) eighth blackbird has been scheduled to perform at November First Friday for
since early spring. The Modlin Center has not "provided" them. They are also
performing for the ticketed ticket-only pre-show opening on Thursday Nov.
1st (see
art6.org website for info). We are actively seeking sponsors for eighth blackbird and local restaurants to donate appetizer trays for Nov 1st and 2nd . The support provided by UR is for Curated Culture and all the downtown
galleries, not just one group.
2)'Holiday window displays means art in windows of vacant buildings. The city promised the art galleries could fill those ugly places months ago At art6, we're ready right now and have been! While a handful of windows (if that) have been done, there has been little guidance by any city contact to make this happen. I sincerely hope it finally gets off the ground in December.

In the meantime, the people come by the thousands, First Friday happens in spite of city government and the bloated-budget Centerstage organization. To suggest Ms.Newton contact yet another group for funds is typical city maneuvering instead of dialogue and assistance.


Thanks to Christina's hard work and countless volunteer hours by local artists in all the galleries, we've made it happen anyway.
Please join us on First Friday, come look, come buy, come support
your local artists!

BTW-LEILA PENDLETON HAS HAD TO CANCEL HER PEFORMANCE FOR SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 8TH- However, WE WILL BE OPEN - DONATIONS ACCEPTED- Music, Poetry, Short Stories, Dance, Refreshments. 7:30pm

art 6- Open when we say we are- downtown!

1 comment:

Don Harrison said...

It's shocking to see how the city treats a genuinely successful downtown project — Curated Culture's First Fridays Artwalk.

When you contrast the fact that the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation's controversial CenterStage is slotted for an undeserved $25 million payoff, and $500,000 a year in operating expenses, it's shameful. What "funding consortium" did they go through again?

Wilder's spokesman Linwood Norman is being disingenous in his excuse making. The "original members" of the Arts and Cultural Funding Consortium (a.k.a. the ones who get the bulk of any annual arts funding) are forbidden to lobby the city directly. Curated Culture is one of those "other" arts organizations who get the leftover scraps (if they are lucky) and technically can lobby the city.

But does the city listen?

Ah, but who does the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation AND city politicans piggyback on when they need to find some sort of legitimacy for their CenterStage groundbreaking ceremony? Curated Culture's First Fridays!

And who does the city and its attending booster organizations market and exploit and cite when they want to sell how great, safe and fun Richmond's downtown is? Curated Culture's First Fridays!

So, if you are scoring at home, our wonderful city leaders can find the money to fund "party patrols," and huge "arts" boondoggles (CenterStage) that eschew arts professionals and community arts people, but our city council can't find a dime for — and our mayor can't even schedule an appointment to hear out — the one successful project that has revitalized downtown.

What's wrong with this picture?