The Colfax Art Crawl: Four Years of Art, Curiosity & Spectacle
2016: The Original Colfax Art Crawl
Four Years of Art, Curiosity & Spectacle
As 40 West Arts District moves into 2020 and celebrates the start of a new year, it’s always fun to look back to the old-school original events that kicked off the expansion of the district and enticed visitors to come back again and again. And can you believe it, we hosted our first Colfax Art Crawl (originally called an Art Walk) in March of 2016.
It was an exciting time for 40 West Arts, we’d recently opened 40 West Studios, a working enclave for 16 artists and welcomed two new creative spaces to the district core. We were ready to show ourselves off to the world.
Our first Art Crawl also marked a pivotal moment for us. We decided that we wanted to bring the weird, wild and funky to the district. We started using the word ‘spectacle’ to describe our attempts to usher in something a little different. We knew our budget was limited but we felt that with a little money, and a little elbow grease we could provide paid opportunities to creatives looking to showcase all kinds of emerging and original arts experiences.
You’ve probably seen LED installation jellyfish (coming back in 2020), live brass bands, fire artists and maybe a dinosaur flash mob? It all started with a vision for a Colfax Art Crawl and a commitment to welcome any and every medium of creative expression out there.
Look for more in 2020 as we kick off our 5th year and you might notice that we’re putting a little extra ‘oomph’ into our standard First Friday events as well. We want to create ‘spectacle’ each month and we’ll be working hard in 2020 to make that happen.
And below is a visual look back to our original Art Crawl, way way back in March of 2016. It was the start of something special.
Coming up in February:
Don’t miss the first of our new themed #FirstFriday experiences with Winter’s Glow.
We’re bringing light to the district with UFO installations from the Bad Astronauts, promenading from 40 West Gallery all the way down the ArtLine. Watch them fly around Pirate Contemporary Art and weave their way to the galleries at Pasternack’s Art Hub, before swinging by our friends at Lakewood Arts & The Gallery of Everything right next door to the legendary Casa Bonita!
See the awesome installations Bad Asstronauts has brought to the district in years prior below!
BUT WAIT, WAIT — THERE’S MORE!
Celebrate all things truly Art Crawl with us during the #FirstFriday March 6th New Orleans street party! This party will feature a 5-piece brass band parading the streets of the district starting at 6pm. There will also be not one but two NOLA inspired food trucks, beads, tarot card readings, and more! We encourage you to dress for the event while you explore our galleries (including the return of NEXT Gallery’s coveted Viva Casa Bonita show).
Want details on everything happening First Friday, February 7th for Winter’s Glow? Visit our details page below to learn more! Also, be sure to use the hashtag #40WestArts or tag us @40WestArts to share your favorite parts of the evening with us.