Who Are We?
First Fridays Artswalk is a free, public, monthly program of the Downtown Pittsfield Cultural Association in downtown Pittsfield, Massachusetts. First Fridays Artswalk connects businesses, galleries, artists, and the community to create an “Artswalk” on the first Friday of every month from 5 to 8 pm February – December. First Fridays Artswalk was created in May of 2012 as part of a greater effort by downtown organizations and the City of Pittsfield to revitalize downtown through the arts. Downtown Pittsfield has come a long way since, and First Fridays Artswalk continues to attract people to experience art while increasing foot traffic and business to our energized downtown.
First Fridays Artswalk has provided monthly opportunities for local artists to showcase and sell their work, and for the community to view diverse, original art, and speak with professional artists about their artistic process.
First Fridays Artswalk started out as a grassroots organization with support and mentorship provided by Downtown Pittsfield, Inc., the City of Pittsfield’s Office of Cultural Development, and the Berkshire Art Association. The success of the program required the group to look at a more structured approach to handling the day-to-day operations. First Fridays Artswalk is now operating as a volunteer-based committee under the leadership of the Downtown Pittsfield Cultural Association. The committee meets monthly to discuss the needs of the program while also offering support to the artists and participating venues.
Click here to view a list of artists who have exhibited in the past!
How It All Started
It was a cool fall evening in late November of 2011. Mary McGinnis, owner of Mary’s Carrot Cake and a little art gallery named GALLERY 25, was featuring the opening of Joanie Palano Ciolfi, a talented designer turned visual artist who specializes in oils and acrylics. Joanie had waited for her show for several months and her big day had come. Like so many artists in the Berkshires, she found very few locations available to showcase her work. The waiting list for GALLERY 25 was two years in the running so she had done all of her groundwork ahead of time. Family, friends, Facebook, postcards — it took a lot to finally reach her day in the sun. After Joanie’s show, a group, including Mary McGinnis, strolled across the street to the local barbershop to view the work of another talented friend, Scott Taylor. Scott had partnered with artist, Michael Cohen, to exhibit his work amid the barbershop chairs and the “gallery” feel about the place. The lighting was perfect in that large room and the hospitality second to none with Esther Bronte serving delicious beverages, cheese and crackers. There the stage was set. “Why not do this every first Friday of the month?!” Mary said. Another friend quickly replied, “This happens all the time in California where I lived. We called them ‘Gallery Crawls’.”
Well, it didn’t take long to get on the Internet and research what so many other downtowns in the country had already discovered – marrying the merchants with the arts world. And what a happy marriage it would be!
First Fridays Artswalk was born on May 4, 2012 with the very first night of opening receptions at over 30 locations in downtown Pittsfield. Retailers, restaurants, galleries, banks, offices and more opened up areas within their business to host an artist for one entire month … until the next First Fridays Artswalk when another artist would be featured for one entire month … and so on, all year long.
The media has fully embraced downtown Pittsfield’s First Fridays Artswalk. Each month you will find a story featured in many of the local publications. There was even a feature story by Stephen Jermanok in the travel section of the Boston Globe. Even Berkshire Medical Center has embraced the program by not only creating gallery space in their lobby, but by also showcasing artistic renderings of surgeons in the operating room in their advertising.
