This is an excerpt from the radio show Our Metropolis, a half-hour issues and affairs program that airs Tuesdays at 6 p.m. on KUNV 91.5-FM and is hosted by Las Vegas Weekly writer at large John Katsilometes. Tune in next week to hear the rest of this interview with Whirlygig Executive Director Nancy Higgins, an administrator for the organization that stages First Friday:
The arts district is a very eclectic and organic region, with a number of art galleries down there but also some furniture shops, auto-repair garages, Casa Don Juan Mexican restaurant, a wide variety of businesses. And there has been some movement with galleries moving out—G-C Arts being one of them. Can you describe the shifting climate down there?
It is an organic kind of district, and being an arts district there is a lot of shifting and movement. Dust Gallery is another gallery moving, to Soho Lofts. But that’s part of the nature of the beast. I think it’s just a matter of change, and art changes all the time.
Over the years there has been some lingering neighborhood discord over the direction of First Friday.
Some gallery owners want it to be a more sedate and serious art walk, and others see it as a community party and street fair. After five years, what is your vision for First Friday?
First and foremost it’s the art. It’s showing the art. However, it is still an arts district—an emerging district with emerging artists—so we developed the outdoor festivities to help bring people down to the event, to give people opportunities to listen to music, to eat and drink and have fun. So, it’s definitely part of the event, a good part, but the focus is on art and showing art.
What is the buzz about the proposed development by REI/Neon, which plans to build a sports arena, casinos and mixed-use projects west of Commerce Street and south of Charleston, abutting the arts district?
We’re waiting for the next City Council meeting, but certainly we’re very much pro-development in that area. I think they can co-exist. Some of the people from REI have said they want to be in the arts district, so we might have some new galleries coming in, but otherwise [Whirlygig] hasn’t taken a stance on it.