There’s a new transport in town!. It has an ArtWalk sticker on it but no, we have not bought it. Keep watching this website over the next couple of months for updates on how, when, and by whom this vehicle will be used!
Quite a change from the ice storm of February 2011; ArtWalk got the best of the Corpus Christi First weekend weather and had another excellent turnout in the order of 5,000 people in the Downtown area during the course of the event. Many more family groups seem to be enjoying the monthly ArtWalk and with this in mind we will be expanding the Kids Art in the Park activities in the near future. Keep checking in to this website for an update on this subject and many more.
We have been lacking a food vendor in recent months and this was resolved for the February ArtWalk by the addition of Callie’s Cajun to our list of vendors in the park. Callie reported a brisk trade throughout the night and has agreed to come back on a regular basis so come get your fix of Cajun food every ArtWalk at la Retama Park. The other vendors in the park also reported a good crowd with folks buying as well as just looking.
Music featured heavily in the February event. As well as regulars HOBO riding “The HOBO Express” (DTown Tram) and “Get Off The Lawn” bluegrass band in La Retama Park we also featured Joe Green playing saxophone on stage in the Ritz Theatre, Brad Brown and Sam Glynn played WaterStreet Market, Adrian Taylor entertained at KSpace Contemporary, David Martinez was at The Art Center, Steven Hansen at the Home of Festival of the Arts, and Barbara & David Brown played in Hester’s at The Art Museum. In addition to all of these fine musicians there were many impromptu performances going on all over Downtown on the sidewalks outside various venues.
You can see a video roundup of the entire Corpus Christi First weekend by visiting the ArtWalk YouTube Channel
Tim Heuston, Mayor Joe Adame, & City Manager Ron Olson at ArtWalk on January 6th
The First ArtWalk of the new year took place on Friday January 6th and, once again, drew an estimated 5,000+ people to the Downtown area to enjoy an evening of free, fun, family entertainment. There have been reports of folks having to park on Shoreline and walk down to the ArtWalk venues; far from being a negative comment I see that as really, really positive as it indicates that lots of folks are turning out to appreciate the efforts of local artists, businesses, musicians, and visiting vendors.
Please note that LAZ Parking offers a special “Corpus Christi First” rate of $2 on ArtWalk night (after 5:30pm) and $2 all day Saturday on the first weekend (Corpus Christi First / Marina Market Days) at their Water Street / Schatzell Street lot. There is also ample on street parking on Water Street, Mesquite Street, Lower Broadway, and Shoreline. If you can’t park close to the Central Downtown area consider parking to the North at the Art Museum of South Texas, The Science and History Museum, The Texas State Museum of Asian Cultures or to the South along Water Street at the old Coliseum parking lot or on the Peoples Street T-Head and catching the free RTA #79 ArtWalk Express which will drop you at various ArtWalk locations.
Here is a slideshow from the January event:
Happy New Year everybody. Hope you all had a good time over the holiday period and are ready for your New Year fix of ArtWalk!
This is our first working day after the break and I have been trying to get around as many venues as possible to find out what they will have to offer ArtWalkers on Friday. At this time I still do not have all the information I need to produce the monthly newsletter so please be patient and I’ll try to get it out tomorrow or Thursday at the latest. In the mean time, just so you know we are going ahead as usual, here are a few pieces of information to whet your appetite:
Bands on ArtWalk include the ubiquitous “HOBO” on the tram, the marvelous “Get off the Lawn” in La Retama Park (they will be on the lawn too), Adrian Taylor at The Art Center, Brad Brown and Sam Glynn at WaterStreet Market, Joe Green at K Space Contemporary, and Barbara & David Brown at The Home of Festival of the Arts. Of course there will be many other bands on the sidewalks and at various other venues throughout Downtown on ArtWalk night.
To correct a newsletter sent out by another organization and for the avoidance of doubt please note that The Art Museum of South Texas and The Corpus Christi Film Society are collaborating to show the musical sensation “Moulin Rouge” in the Museums’ auditorium starting at 7pm. (Not outside on the Seelena auditorium wall)
RTA Route#79 will, as usual, at 5:30pm magically transform into The ArtWalk Express which provides a FREE 30 minute service to the outer reaches of ArtWalk. Connecting the Central Downtown area to all points North (as far as The Art Museum) and South (Tango Tea Room and, new for January, Crossfit 361 new premises at 401 N Water, entrance located on Broadway as well as stopping at The Art Center on Shoreline and Harrisons Landing on the Peoples Street T-Head.
See you all Friday at 5:30pm in La Retama Park for the start of this great new year of ArtWalks. And watch out for the full newsletter speeding to your email inbox just as soon as I can gather all the relevant information!
The Art Museum will be open to Artwalkers on December 2 from 5:30 – 9 pm. At 7 p.m. Echotone will be screened in the Art Museum Auditorium. This is an amazing documentary about the indie music scene of Austin, Texas. Echotone is a cultural portrait of the modern American city examined through the lyrics and lens of its creative class. It is free to attendees. A discussion period with the producer/director follows. The film screening is part of the South Texas Cinemateque program.
Check out the first in what we hope to become a series of regular monthly articles featuring Art, Artists, and Musicians. Everything and everyone you read about here you should be able to see, hear, or visit with on ArtWalk.
The Byline for all these articles belongs to Brigitte Cadena:
Ride-In Theatre presents "Raising Arizona"
Byline: The SpokesPeople
The Corpus Christi Film Society and The SpokesPeople are bringing an entertaining and darkly comedic tale of fertility, kidnapping, robberies, a prison break, a trailer park, and Huggies to the Corpus Christi Watergardens.
Bring your fanciest lawn chair or a blanket and cooler to camp out on the grass and enjoy the LARGEST outdoor movie Corpus has ever seen.
Pantyhose will be distributed, so at the least the first 50 people will have “a panty on their head.”
Spread the word, ride your bike if you have one, and come watch Hi, Ed, and Nathan Jr. in the best environment imaginable.
We will be projecting the film onto the back wall of Selena Auditorium facing the CC Museum of Science and History. Seating will be on the Bayfront Science Park lawn between the Art Museum of South Texas and the Corpus Christi Watergardens. Parking is available at the very end of Shoreline near the Art Museum or in the Art Museum parking lot that you access off of Chapparal between the Harbor Playhouse and the CC Museum of Science and History.
Paste these GPS Coords into Google Maps for the exact location: 27.810137,-97.393606
The BIG news regarding the collaboration of ArtWalk and the CCRTA is that, with effect from Friday November 4th, the #79 Downtown / Shoreline Shuttle will change the route it follows to include all our outlying venues. From the museums in S.E.A. Town to The Art Center on Shoreline, to Harrison’s Landing, to The Center at 505 S Water Street (Tango TeaRoom complex) they will all be served by the #79.
This service will be operated using two Downtown Trolleys and, even with the inclusion of Staples Street Bus Station in the route, will provide a 30 minute service throughout the evening. Even better news is that the operating hours will be extended to run until 9pm and, from 5:30 to 9pm it will be a FREE service!
The original Downtown ArtWalk was a small affair, contained within a few City blocks, and eminently “walkable”. However the success enjoyed by this event over the past two years has made it impossible to cover all venues on foot. Indeed there are so many participating venues now that it is virtually impossible to visit them all in one ArtWalk evening even utilizing the various methods of transport available. This is both a good problem and a bad problem for the event to experience. Good because it signifies success; bad because it could leave ArtWalkers unhappy with their experience and so we work constantly to upgrade the services we provide.
We have always had the DTown Tram operating on ArtWalk nights and, with onboard “Official band of ArtWalk” – HOBO it always proves to be a popular way to get around Central Downtown. Of course as the venues increased in number it became untenable for the tram to visit all venues. At one time you were lucky to see the tram once each ArtWalk!. It was at this point that the Corpus Christi Regional Transportation Authority stepped in and offered to use their Community Bus to service the outlying venues and this has worked with varying degrees of success.
This latest innovation resolves two main difficulties which existed with the original service:
Route #79 will operate utilising existing official RTA bus stops and, being an official route, it will be a timed journey so everyone will know when and where the busses are at any given time. This now makes it feasible to park in an outlying area, e.g. at the Art Museum, and catch the bus into the Central Downtown area to attend ArtWalk and still catch a ride back to your vehicle at the end of the evening.
The Downtown Management District took a booth at the Texas Realters Convention which was held at The Ortiz Center on Thursday October 20th and was attended by over 200 realtors from the Coastal Bend.
Many of the delegates attending the convention were enthusiastic about the ArtWalk and the Marina Market Days whilst some did not know about the Bridgewalk . Everyone agreed we are on the right track with the Corpus Christi First initiative and our efforts to show residents and visitors alike that there are many and varied things to do in Corpus Christi.
Hopefully our efforts to “educate” realtors about Corpus Christi First, and especially ArtWalk, will reap marketing benefits as the word is spread to potential new Corpus Christi home owners about the multitude of exciting activities that are available in our Sparking City by the Sea.
Maybe we’ll end up in the realtors newsletter too as this young lady was taking pictures of all the “vendors” booths for the Texas Association of Realtors.
© 2012 - First Friday ArtWalk
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