Downtown Monroe and West Monroe will be “crawling” with art enthusiasts and fun seekers at the October Downtown Gallery Crawl on Thursday, October 3. Presented by the Northeast Realtors of Louisiana, the Downtown Gallery Crawl, an initiative of the non-profit Downtown Arts Alliance, was designed to enhance the art culture of the 318 and to allow North Louisiana artists a platform to grow, prosper and connect with one another and the local community while continuing to revitalize the downtowns of Monroe and West Monroe. The Crawl's mission is to provide interactive art education and to showcase and make accessible to the NELA community the works of emerging and established local, regional and national artists and artisans.
Featured shows and artists at galleries this crawl are:
Northeast Louisiana Arts Council: Kit Gilbert Retrospective in collaboration with the Ross Lynn Foundation/The Gilbert Center.
Max Porter Provisions: Artist Haley Monk and live music from Trey Geauthreaux.
Sugar Gallery: How High Do We Aim featuring Terrence Williams, II; Kids Club Summer Art Camp Exhibition upstairs; and music by DJ RussB
Flying Tiger Brewery: Lake Providence print maker & mixed media artist Sara Beth Howard, Weekend Press (Tucker Howard) screen printers, Gaiten Howard Contemporary & Custom Jewelry, and The Mash an artisanal hot sauce maker.
The Good Daze: Melissa Stroud with “Of Life and Loss”, Kylee-Anne Dixon, and Inique Harris
La Bella Events & Receptions: Wide variety of artists and vendors including artist Niki Bowie, Jason Pliler Leatherworks, and live music by Zeolite.
Courtyard Galerie: Solo shows will include Jason Byron Nelson’s Deerwalkers in the Trenton Street gallery and Ralph Nix’s Visions from the Inside Out curated by Kathy Biedenharn in the Cotton Street gallery.
Albritton Photography: Life Choices of Monroe online auction artwork on display.
The Palace Gallery: Lafayette artist Alex Vidos and Baton Rouge artist Kim Meadowlark.
Revival Design & Cosign: Fall Farmers and Makers Market
Additional participating galleries include: Standard Coffee Co. and Alley Park.
Crawlers can also enjoy a fun scavenger hunt during this crawl with details on how to play shared on social media in the days leading up to the crawl. Wagon rides will be available to help crawlers move throughout out Downtown Monroe and West Monroe, and food trucks and live music can be found throughout both downtowns during the event.
The Downtown Gallery Crawl is free and open to the public occurring every other month, six times a year happening from 5pm-9pm on the first Thursday of each month starting in February of each year. The remaining date for the 2024 season is December 5. Participating galleries provide a free and fun environment for the community to interact with, observe, learn about, and acquire fine art.
The 2024 Downtown Gallery Crawl is made possible by the generosity of local sponsors including the Northeast Realtors of Louisiana (Crawl Presenter), Origin Bank (Crawl Believer), North Delta Title (Crawl Sponsor), Yarbrough Capital Advisors (Crawl Sponsor), and the Northeast Louisiana Arts Council.
In kind sponsors include Sir Speedy Printing, KEDM Public Radio, and Flying Tiger Brewery.
For more information about the Downtown Arts Alliance or for sponsorship information, contact Sheila Snow, President of the Downtown Arts Alliance, at 318.503.8329, artsalliancedowntown@gmail.com, or ssnow@monroe-westmonroe.org.
