The first edition of A Guide to Downtown Art Spaces has just been published, a joint project of a number of venues that display original art.
 
These venues include commercial and non-profit organizations devoted specifically to art, as well as businesses for which visual art is an ancillary feature.
 
The brochure lists each venue’s physical address, phone number, website address and hours of operation. It also features a map showing each venue’s location.
 
Future editions will add art spaces that have opened since the project was initiated.
 
Suggested by Wayne McNeil (The Paper Wasp) and Brad Robertson (Robertson Galleries), the project has been coordinated by Mobile Arts Council, which hosts a monthly meeting of representatives of downtown art spaces, open to anyone who would like to be involved. Dee Cariglino (dee c. design) is responsible for the look and layout of the publication, and the printing was funded by contributions from the listed venues.
 
“This project is one more manifestation of the cooperative spirit that animates the Mobile arts community,” notes Mobile Arts Council’s Executive Director Bob Burnett. “And it provides a practical way for downtown art spaces to support one another by ensuring that the public is aware of all of them.”
 
The eighteen venues in this first edition are Art Off Centre, Bienville Books/ The Haunted Book Loft, The Blind Mule, Blue Velvet Studio, Cathedral Square Gallery, Crescent Theater, Edwards Glass Studio, inside - up, Koch Galleries, Liquid Lounge, Mobile Arts Council, The Paper Wasp, Robertson Gallery, Serda’s Coffee Company, Soul Kitchen Music Hall, Space 301, Victorian Teal Art Gallery and wellbornIdeas.