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First Fridays


 A Celebration of Local Art

For art enthusiasts in Kansas City, the first Friday of each month is a day to look forward to. The aptly named First Fridays is an event where art galleries in the Crossroads district open their doors to the general public, joined by a variety of performers, vendors, and other creative individuals. First Fridays spans all of the Crossroads district, which is centered at 19th Street and Baltimore Avenue, with the entire event spanning some twenty blocks around the neighborhood. First Fridays is an event that occurs in many cities, with tens of thousands of people flocking to cities like Redmond, Virginia and Spokane, Washington. One of the oldest First Fridays is held in Boston’s SoWa Arts District, which has ranked as one of the best art districts in the country. Kansas City, in its own right, is quite a center of art, opening 70 shops and galleries at its First Fridays. It ranks as one of the largest free art crawls in the nation. Truly, Kansas City has made First Friday into its own unique event, one that treats art lovers to a night filled with all manner of creative delights.
              What attendees of First Fridays may not know is that the Crossroads district has not always been the premier neighborhood for artists. In the 1980s and early 1990s, the neighborhood was a relative ghost town, simply known as an odd stretch of town that wasn’t quite downtown but didn’t exactly fit as midtown, either. For many years, the area had no name, though it eventually came to be called the Crossroads district (a name that was officially given to the area in 2001). Before artists entered the space, the area was blighted, filled with condemned or warehoused areas, with few people knowing the area even existed. However, this desolate land would eventually come to house one of the largest art districts in America.
              The Crossroads gained a new life with the entrance of Jim Leedy. Leedy was a ceramicist who taught at the Kansas City Art Institute, who was dismayed to find that many of his students would leave the city because of the lack of a space for artists. At the time, Kansas City had no artistic neighborhood, which made prospects dim for those newly out of school. Initially, Leedy sought to transform Westport into this space, but later turned to the Crossroads after realizing how cost effective it would be. Leedy also sought the help of artist John O’Brien, who was eager to grow the Crossroads into a space where artists could thrive. He would revamp the spaces, then rent them out to artists at a fair rate, only taking enough to cover the bills. This caused a rapid expansion of the area, as more and more spaces were renovated and taken up by enthusiastic artists.
              First Fridays was first concocted as a way to join the galleries together, so that each could thrive. The first official First Fridays was held in 2002, although earlier events had occurred in the mid-90s. The event was first hosted at The Dolphin, one of the first galleries to open in the Crossroads, which was owned by John O’Brien. The Dolphin would be the center of artistic life in Kansas City for 25 years before closing in 2013, as John O’Brien chose to become an art dealer rather than a gallery owner. The initial goal of First Fridays was so that local businesses and artists could gain exposure, in the hopes that customers would return later on after having a positive experience at First Fridays. Nearly two decades later, this seems to have paid off, as First Fridays is as popular as it ever was, and the Crossroads continues to be one of the largest art districts in the country.



For those new to the Crossroads, information booths are available throughout the district, filled with brochures and maps.


The Jones Gallery holds two floors worth of art, such as this piece by Ryan Delgado.


First Fridays attracts both crowds and craftsmen. Many people set out tables on the sidewalk and offer handmade goods.


Please click here to watch the video
https://youtu.be/4SzjY3HzVcw

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