First Friday Foundation board takes reins of monthly event

First Friday, which began as a nonprofit monthly arts festival that hoped to bring more attention to the struggling art galleries and antique shops in the 18b Arts District, has gone through significant changes in its relatively short existence.

The event was sold to an investment group that included Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh in 2011 and was re-branded as First Friday Las Vegas. In February, Wendoh Media acquired the event. Another transformation occurred June 12, but what that will mean for the monthly event and the 18b has yet to be determined.

“It remains an art and culture event, but it’s about creativity in all its forms,” said Joey Vanas, who was the managing partner for First Friday Las Vegas. “It’s not just painting and sculpting. It’s performance art, it’s music, and there’s always been a big culinary component to it. It’s all those things and more.”

The latest change is the donation of the current physical assets, intellectual property and $100,000 in cash to the new nonprofit First Friday Foundation and the formation of a board made up of local artists, gallery owners and business people in the 18b Arts District, along with casino executives, government officials and established nonprofit operators from across the valley.

“It’s interesting talking about the future of First Friday because I have a lot of ideas,” Vanas said. “I’ll start off as the executive director of the foundation, but they’re not my decisions to make anymore. Other people will bring other ideas to the table, and the best course of action will be decided on by a group of people who are smarter and have done a lot more things than I have.”

The group had its first board meeting July 1.

“The first meeting of the newly established First Friday Foundation board was very exciting, creative and productive,” Vanas said in an email interview. “The board is determined to create a path to sustainability for the organization. Every director has committed to contributing, and all see great value in First Friday as a mainstay of authentic Las Vegas culture.”

First Friday began in October 2002 when Cindy Funkhouser, owner of The Funkhouse antique store, and her friends Julie Brewer and Naomi Arin created the nonprofit Whirlygig Inc. to run the monthly event..

“The way it currently operates, $100,000 is not a lot of money,” said Funkhouser, one of many longtime Arts District luminaries who was invited to be a board member of the new foundation. “I’m not sure how they’re going to find the money to run it without Tony Hsieh.”

For the first few years, it was a relatively quiet event, with galleries and other businesses opening their doors, offering wine and cheese and inviting the public to see what the district had to offer. It began as an art walk between The Funkhouse, 1228 S. Casino Center Blvd., and The Arts Factory, 107 E. Charleston Blvd., which was owned by Wes Myles Isbutt. In the early days of the festival, a trail of bright orange-painted sneaker footprints led patrons between the two locations, which soon became the two hubs as other venues opened in the 18b.

The promotion and organization of First Friday events is falling to the artists and galleries again during the quieter months of the year, including July and August, when the heat keeps crowds down. Artist, gallery operator and new board member Justin Lepper unintentionally brought back the tradition of the footprints in June.

“The footprint of the event was scaled back for the summer, and Casino Center (Boulevard) wasn’t closed off,” Lepper said. “We went out and drew chalk footprints down to corner of Casino Center and Colorado (Avenue), and from there down to Photo Bang Bang. It was only later that I found out about the footprints they used to have.”

Photo Bang Bang, a photo studio and gallery at 224 E. Imperial Ave., is outside the official 18b designation, but Lepper said organizers are trying to include as many of the venues as possible that are open and doing events on First Friday, including longtime staple Blackbird Studios, 1551 S. Commerce St., and Downtown Spaces, 1800 S. Industrial Road.

By the time Whirlygig sold the event, the number of attendees was typically in the thousands, and it was showing the strains of its growth with problems, including revelers who hung around long after the event and the stores were shut down for the night, fights, parking issues that included predatory towing companies and tension from the galleries when the event was unexpectedly canceled one month.

There was also a growing tension between brick-and-mortar businesses and the temporary ones on First Friday. Isbutt in particular voiced displeasure at food trucks set up close to BarBistro at The Arts Factory.

In 2011, the new organizers brought more structure and control to the event, with a more prominent police and security presence and specialized zones for merchants, food trucks, children’s areas and Green Street, a section for ecological businesses, nonprofits and other green initiatives.

It began to theme the monthly event, often closing off the tents on Casino Center Boulevard that had been populated with local art and nonprofits and replacing it with art installations.

Wendoh Media also acquired 50 percent and control of the Life is Beautiful Festival. At the ceremony April 16 celebrating 18b Day, Vanas made that connection clear when he announced that June’s theme would be Music Is Beautiful, with performers at many venues downtown vying for a spot at the Life is Beautiful Festival. He also made it clear that First Friday isn’t just about art and the 18b Arts District.

“Everyone has a different idea of what it is and where it is,” Vanas said. “There are a lot of people who think of it as the art walk with the five blocks that are closed off within the Arts District. Other people come down and tell me how much they enjoyed First Friday, and it turns out they never set foot in the Arts District. It grew up out of an art walk and it turned into a much larger thing. It’s the migration to downtown.”

Vanas said he sees First Friday Las Vegas as the central marketing platform for all the events and activities happening on First Friday.

July’s First Friday had a scaled-back footprint, and the tents were more typical of the Artisan Bazaar that traditionally has taken place in a lot off Casino Center Boulevard, featuring more crafts and swap meet commerce than original art.

“It’s a process,” said Lepper, who is also on the boards of the 18b Arts District and the City of The World, a nonprofit gallery and education entity. “It’s really our first time doing this, but I’m excited about and trying to bring everyone together for this.”

— This is part one of a two-part series about changes regarding First Friday and the 18b Arts District. Part two is set for July 23.

To reach East Valley View reporter F. Andrew Taylor, email ataylor@viewnews.com or call 702-380-4532.