First Fridays cancelled for September

Nick Bonadies
Spectrum Editor

Returning students, as well as art lovers throughout the city, looking forward to their first First Fridays Art Walk of the school year will have to wait until October to get their fix.

Because of increasing issues with crowd control and teenage violence, organizers of the monthly cultural festival announced on Friday, Aug. 12 that the event had been cancelled for September.

Members of the non-profit First Fridays organizational body Curated Culture voted to discontinue the event for September while they discuss solutions to problems that have escalated over several months. Members include participating First Fridays gallery and business owners as well as many downtown residents.

An official statement from program director Christina Newton described the cancellation as an opportunity to give businesses “time to take much deserved vacations” and tend to necessary building maintenence. She then added, “A break also seemed practical in light of the fact that we have seen an increase in crime in the area during and after First Fridays hours.”

Curated Culture has placed estimates that art walks for June, July and August drew, in addition to the 3,000 or 4,000 people who usually attend First Fridays, about 2,000 teenagers who have started attending the cultural festivals from nearby neighborhoods.

The event in June saw two arrests made, one as a result of a threat to a police officer. In July, several fights were reported, but no arrests were made. Record attendance that month, in conjunction with crowds standing and enjoying music being projected outside storefronts, resulted in congested sidewalks and people spilling into the street. The police presence was active, breaking up fights and moving foot traffic.

In preparation for the August event, several changes were instated, including shifting the official hours one hour earlier, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., and enforcing that all music be shut off before 9 p.m.

Perhaps the biggest effort came from the City of Richmond and sponsors in the form of a 21-and-under event, “RVA Presents the Lounge at CenterStage,” coordinated by Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities; Richmond Police; CenterStage and SMG. The event would “provide an outlet for teens to express themselves,” said Tesha W. Davis, Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities Health Marketing and Public Relations manager.

Held in a sequestered area behind the Richmond CenterStage performing arts center, several blocks east of the art walk, “The Lounge” enlisted the help of young people to engage their peers’ interests through social media and offered performances from several teenage artists, hot dog and ice cream vendors, as well as a visible security presence. However, reports widely indicate that the crowd at the event was non-existent, with more staff in attendance than young people.

Ultimately, the scene at the art walk in August saw crowds jamming the streets, as well as increased numbers of police cruisers and motorcycles and officers on foot. Richmond police made a total of five arrests, including a felony arrest for possession of a handgun.

After September, future First Fridays events have not been discontinued. Although Newton maintained the organization’s goal to continue the events in an official statement, she also recognized that postponing them indefinitely may be the only solution for downtown businesses if a solution cannot be reached.

“The situation is really complicated,” Newton said in an interview with RVAnews. “There is no easy fix.”

First Fridays is in its 10th year and widely hailed for having brought business and vitality to downtown Richmond through its celebration of arts and culture.