First Friday in transitional phase as organizers shape long-term plans

If it's the first Friday of the month, it must be First Friday.

But it's not quite the First Friday it used to be.

Galleries throughout the downtown arts district still welcome visitors to take in an eclectic array of artwork. Artisans and crafters still sell their wares. Bars, restaurants — and even a few food trucks — augment the experience.

Yet there wee no street closures, no tents — and no tens-of-thousands-strong throngs — on Friday as the monthly happening follows a do-your-own-thing plan for the next few months.

"We're in a transitional phase," acknowledges First Friday Foundation board member Justin Lepper, co-owner of Eden Art Studio and Gallery in the Arts Factory.

"The fact is, there's no money in this year's budget" to pay for street closures and other arrangements, Lepper says. "It's gone."

Formerly underwritten by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh and fellow downtown boosters, First Friday became a nonprofit in June; a 17-member board now oversees the event.

Organizers are currently "full-blown into planning and fundraising," according to Joey Vanas, First Friday Foundation executive director, who notes that "time, energy and money — the three key elements — are being allocated toward planning for next year."

The current lower-key First Friday events — which continue in January, when First Friday falls on New Year's Day — represent " shorter-term sacrifice for a longer-term gain," in Vanas' view.

"First Friday has been around long enough, and has enough brand awareness, that if we do lose a little bit of momentum in the short term," it's not a major problem, Vanas says.

After all, "First Friday always happens," he adds. "It's a day of the month for people to celebrate authentic Las Vegas culture. And that's a lot more important than what happens" at expanded First Friday gatherings, which sometimes drew upward of 20,000 people for music, food and drink as well as art.

The current downsized First Friday "requires every gallery to be more independent," Lepper explains. "Interesting things are going on," but "we're in kind of a trial-and-error phase, totally finding out what's going to work for the future."

For some artists and gallery owners, the lower-key First Friday has meant a financial hit.

"I miss the entire experience," Roz Knight of City of the World Gallery says of the expanded First Friday festivities. "It's my extra money."

Nevertheless, City of the World has a full First Friday slate in December, from arts and crafts vendors outside to a juried exhibit devoted to artists' interpretations of "Joy."

There'll even be a food truck parked at the gallery, located on Casino Center Boulevard and Colorado Avenue.

And while "I base my studio openings off First Friday's schedule," says artist Alex P. Huerta of peaceNart Studio at the Arts Factory, "First Friday's really just five hours out of the month."

That five hours, however, represents "an appointment for about 5,000 people every month," Huerta adds. "There's a ready-made First Friday crowd."

Some think the absence of ancillary activities — the dancing, the drinking, the food trucks — puts more focus on the art itself.

"A lot of artists and galleries" told Vanas that November's scaled-back First Friday "was one of their best months," he notes. "If there's not going to be a street festival component, if it's not going to happen in that way, still go and discover. It'll just be a different experience."

And, some suggest, a better one.

Painter Anne Steinhauer, who moved her A. Stein Arts gallery from the Arts Factory to a studio west of the arts district, found the First Friday "emphasis seemed to be on small crafty items, food trucks, music and drinking, not toward a mature art scene," she says. "What First Friday became was a really bad parking problem."

As a result, many art aficionados opted to visit galleries the night before First Friday, Preview Thursday, where "it's all about the art," according to Huerta. "The collectors stopped coming on First Friday because of the crowds."

The current lower-key approach "kind of activated the more mature, older patron of First Friday," Lepper says.

"First Friday is awesome and Preview Thursday is great," but they represent "just a portion of our month," he points out. "This is a marathon, not a sprint. And even with the scaled-back footprint, we've sold more art."

Vanas says the First Friday Foundation will announce details of its larger, longer-term plans early in 2016.

Lepper predicts that "what people are going to see is going to blow them away."

In the meantime, "people don't know what to expect," he says, citing the "more intimate interaction with the artists" during the scaled-back First Friday events. "It's a do-it-yourself kind of vibe."

— Read more from Carol Cling at reviewjournal.com. Contact her at ccling@reviewjournal.com and follow @CarolSCling on Twitter.