For Immediate Release:
Date: May 29, 2015
Contact: Mary Hart, Gates Block Studios
Phone: (781) 856-4097
Email: mjhart206@gmail.com
Online: www.cultureiscool.org/downtown-lowell-first-thursdays
www.facebook.com/LowellFirstThursdays
“Let’s Grow” – Downtown Lowell First Thursdays Continues to Cultivate Culture on Thursday, June 4, from 5-9 p.m.
Lowell, Massachusetts- “Let’s Grow, Lowell” is the rallying call for June’s Downtown Lowell First Thursdays evening event, with free art gallery exhibits and demonstrations highlighting the growth and greenery that surrounds us in the spring and summer seasons. On Thursday, June 4, 2015, First Thursday will feature open galleries and museums, and special offers from local businesses and restaurants in the downtown from 5 – 9 p.m.
First Thursdays are great opportunities to get out and explore lively downtown Lowell, and take in the music, art, history, food, and culture that make our city such a unique destination. Visitors and locals can check out the galleries, learn something new at an artist demonstration, try a new restaurant (or an old favorite), do some shopping, ride the trolley, take a summer stroll along the canals, and listen to some jazz- it’s all here at Downtown Lowell First Thursdays. This year, First Thursdays events and activities take place on June 4, July 2, August 6, and September 3.
Let’s Grow! Western Avenue Studios is sponsoring a demonstration on building a fairy garden at the Market Mills Courtyard from 6:15 – 7:30 p.m. Miniature garden specialist Joni Allard will show just how much fun it can be to create a container garden using a few small plants, some mini-garden accessories and a lot of imagination. Next door, the Brush Art Gallery will be serving up some garden-fresh refreshments and garden-inspired recipe cards, along with demonstrations by studio artists from 5 – 8 p.m. More gardens await at Whistler Park, a beautiful Victorian Garden at the Whistler House Museum of Art just two blocks away. Visitors can take an evening saunter through the garden and take a guided tour of the museum at 6, 7, or 8 p.m. The Lowell As We See It members’ exhibit will be open in the Whistler House’s Parker Gallery, and the gift shop will offer a special First Thursday 10% discount.
At the Zeitgeist Gallery, the Making Art with Artists program (MaWa) encourages the growth of local youth artists, enriching their lives with free art classes with professional artists. The Gallery will be celebrating the first year of the program with a display of MaWa artwork and serving refreshments from 5-9 p.m. Taking growth in the opposite direction is the Tiny But Mighty show at the Arts League of Lowell, exploring form, texture, light, shadow, design, depth, tone, and more in small works no larger than 6” x 6” x 6”. From 6 to 7:30 p.m., visitors can create their own “tiny but mighty” artwork in the ALL classroom to take home with them.
Two gallery shows will host opening receptions on the June 4th First Thursday. The Arts Research Collaborative will open From Here, a “selection of some things from somewhere,” with a reception from 6-8 p.m. From 6-9 p.m., the Ayer Lofts Gallery will host an opening reception for Alive, an exhibit sponsored by Lowell General Hospital featuring the photographs of Kim Hak. Hak’s photographs reveal the intimate world of old photos and usual objects entrusted to him by local Cambodian families, offering insight into families’ experiences during the Khmer Rouge Regime from 1975 to 1979.
DIY Lowell will be at the Visitor Center, offering inspiration and collecting ideas for small-scale creative projects to improve life in the city. The vintage 1924 New Orleans streetcar operated by the National Streetcar Museum will be rolling along the tracks of downtown Lowell and offering free trolley rides from 5 p.m. until dusk. And when dusk falls, Mill No. 5 is the destination for the Night Market, featuring vendors of “vintage, handmade, and artisanal goods,” and the Luna Sessions – live jazz with the best in local talent jamming at the Luna Theater. The Night Market will be open from 5-11 p.m., and the Luna Sessions start at 8:30 p.m.
For schedules and complete details on all the downtown participants, visit the Cultural Organization of Lowell website atwww.cultureiscool.org/downtown-lowell-first-thursdays. Updates are also posted at www.facebook.com/LowellFirstThursdays. Maps, schedules and information are all available at Lowell National Historical Park’s Visitor Center, which is open until 9 p.m. The Visitor Center will also screen the park’s new film Lowell: The Continuing Revolution every half hour throughout the evening. Free parking is available at the National Park lot at 304 Dutton Street, and paid parking is available at any of the downtown city garages.
