Take a Walk, and Take in Some Art

Put away those high heels and wing tips and get ready to take a hike with the first Princeton ArtWalk.

Ten different art venues and businesses with art elements will be open during the walk, to take place on Nov. 3, from 5 to 8 p.m. Admission is free. Fine art will be the focus of the walk, although some additional events are scheduled.

Most of the sites are located along Nassau and Witherspoon streets and include: Princeton University Art Museum, Arts Council of Princeton, Bernstein Gallery, Firestone Library, Cotsen Children’s Library, Lewis Center of the Arts, Princeton Historical Society, Princeton Public Library, Small World Coffee, Labyrinth Books and Morven Museum & Garden.

“There will be varying activities in the different spaces, but the idea is that you can go from one to the next and we don’t have any scheduled performances that would require you to sit down and see something from beginning to end,” said Jeff Nathanson, executive director of the Princeton Arts Council. “It’s more casual, you can go into a gallery, there might be music playing as background entertainment but nothing so formal that you have to sit down and enjoy it from beginning to end. It’s oriented to gallery goers.”

At 7:30 p.m., the Arts Council’s Paul Robeson Center for the Arts will host a slide talk by photographer Richard Speedy. The talk, titled “Dancing Under the Moon: A Photographic Journey Through The Mexican Sierra Tarahumara” will feature portraits, images of ceremonies and landscapes Speedy took in southwest Chihuahua. 

Nathanson said the ArtWalk will be designed with Princeton University Art Museum and the Paul Robeson Center serving as bookends.

“Our hope is that people might stroll to various galleries and see what there is to see and then end up coming to the Art Council’s Paul Robeson Center and see our exhibition and stay for an artist slide talk,” Nathanson said. The Center will be hosting a Day of the Dead exhibit that will feature altars created by artists.

The tour will be self-guided and sandwich signs will show which venues are part of the ArtWalk signifying a venue is part of the walk. 

One challenge in planning the ArtWalk was choosing the right date, which had to be scheduled at a time when all the participating venues had exhibits going on. Organizers also wanted to choose a first Thursday of the month to make it easy for people to remember. Walks will be scheduled quarterly and then hopefully monthly.

The ArtWalk, according to Nathanson, is the latest example of collaboration between the Princeton's arts organizations. The most significant, he said, happened when the Arts Council, the Westminster Choir College, the Chamber of Commerce and other groups created the Princeton Area Arts and Culture Consortium a few years ago.

“We meet regularly and we talk about collaborative projects and marketing, and we share information,” Nathanson says. “And it’s really been great because there have been all kinds of good ideas that have come out of it.”

The results, Nathanson said, is Communiversity, the annual celebration of the arts organized by the University and the Arts Council. This year, about 40,000 attended the event. 

“The Princeton ArtWalk idea is an extension of what other great things can we do collaboratively to bring people out,” Nathanson said. “Certainly Princeton is a wonderful place to live and work and visit, but it’s creating more of an arts and culture destination mentality about our wonderful town here.”

ArtWalk can also benefit downtown businesses.

“We really think the ArtWalk can be good for downtown business,” Nathanson said. “It’s going to bring people into restaurants and cafes, and hopefully bring more people who are interested in arts and culture. That’s the same audience that likes fine dining and good shopping. We’re looking to be a partner with the business community to make this a win-win for everybody.”

The Princeton ArtWalk will take place on Nov. 3, from 5 to 8 p.m. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/princetonartwalk.