ART Night organizers are looking for participants for the ART Night 2013 program, which this year is expanded to include musicians, performers, lectures, workshops and venues.
 
In its second year, ART Night – Gallery & Open Studios of Bristol and Warren will be held on the last Thursday of every month from April to October in 2013, with a special ART Night event on Saturday November 30th.  Organizers are looking for participants to fill its program, which includes:
Featured Artists Open Studio in Bristol and Warren (4 per month)
Featured Artists showing in Bristol and Warren venues and businesses
Open Galleries in Bristol and Warren
Musicians, dancers, actors and other performers (for multiple venues)
Art lecturers and demonstrators
Non-profit and for profit venues in Bristol and Warren
 
“ART Night is a cooperative venture between Bristol and Warren that is dedicated to invigorating the downtown arts and culture scene, and enhancing the local economies,” says ART Night programming director Paula Silva.  “ART Night accomplishes this through:
    - Presenting free arts & cultural nights
    - Creating opportunities for local and regional artist, culture groups and educators to lecture/perform/exhibit
    - Spearheading cooperative marketing
    - Creating a forum for ART Night partners to convene around shared topics
    - Contributing to Warren and Bristolʼs creative economy initiatives.”
 
The deadline for submitting participation interest forms is January 15, 2013. And more detail about participation options is available on the ART Night website: http://www.artnightbristolwarren.org/Art_Night/Get_involved.html
 
In the past year, the ART Night’s 2012 program attracted many thousands of visitors to the East Bay to attend 180 events at 20 venues.  “Of the visitors who filled out our ART Night visitor surveys, at least 80 percent travelled to the East Bay to experience ART Night.  27 percent of visitors came from other parts of Rhode Island and 53 percent travelled from out of state,” says Jill Culora, ART Night marketing director. “And feedback from artists and galleries indicate that the visitors who came to ART Night also bought art that night or came back to purchase later, which is really good news for the local economy. ART Night is bringing money into our local economy.”
 
Ms Silva says ART Night visitors often commented their surprise at the quality and diversity of art available in Bristol and Warren. “And they are also mentioning how beautiful our two towns are and how much they enjoy the local restaurants & shops.”
 
“We couldn’t be happier with the positive feedback we are getting. It’s clear that there are a lot of very talented people in these two towns and we are very grateful that they are participating in ART Night,” she says. “Participation of this scale really helps with the artistic diversity that we can offer.
 
“But all in all, it’s an opportunity for people to visit our towns by walking around and seeing all that we have to offer in a way that they may not do otherwise.”
 
A big draw for ART Night is the “open studio” component, where visitors tour the inside of featured artists’ studios and get to meet and talk to artists about their work. “People are finding this is a really worthwhile aspect of ART Night.”
 
As with the 2012 program, ART Night 2013 will offer a completely different program each month, with new featured artists, exhibits, performers and lectures each month – an aspect that keeps visitors coming back.  A free trolley will run from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. between the studios, galleries, businesses and venues making it easy to get between venues in both towns.
 
In it’s first year, ART Night in Bristol and Warren won a Rhode Island Monthly magazine “Best of” category –– for best New Gallery Tour, and a RI Governor’s tourism award.
  
ART Night is a partnership between Bristol Independent Galleries and the Warren Arts Initiative. These East Bay towns have a long history of attracting creative people and organizers are putting together another exciting lineup for 2013.

Email questions to: info@artnightbristolwarren.org