James Franklin and Picasso might not normally be the pair of best friends you picture hanging out on a Friday night, but this weekend, football and art will be united for a night of art, festivities and celebration of the new community in the SEC.
Be it a football-tossing jock or paint-smeared artisan, everyone is invited to the free outdoor Pre-game Art Huddle from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday before the inaugural SEC game against Georgia.
The idea for the Pre-game Art Huddle came up when Tiger Town was first proposed. The Tiger Town planners encouraged other entities to organize something on Friday night to entertain visitors, says Jennifer Perlow, event organizer and owner of Perlow-Stevens Gallery.
The event will feature three live music stages located by Orr Street Studios, ARTlandish Gallery and The Bridge. Artists will be showing and creating art all throughout the North Village Arts District from Walnut Street to Rogers Street and College Avenue to Ninth Street. Many of the galleries will be having showings as well as refreshments.
But behold! Busybodies fear not. You can come to this event and still go out for your Friday night shenanigans of streaking the quad, studying economics, or whatever it is that you crazy Tigers have planned. The event ends early, so people can catch a show at The Blue Note or at The Bridge afterward.
“We want guests from out of town to feel welcome here,” organizer and ARTlandish gallery owner Lisa Bartlett says. “We don’t want them going to the dumb mall.”
Many people will be traveling to Columbia for the first time this weekend for MU’s first game in the SEC, and most of them won’t know what there is to do in Columbia besides the game. The Art Huddle hopes to showcase the other part of our town besides the screaming fans at the stadium, our team’s dazzling new uniforms, the tops of tailgating tents and, of course, our boss football team.
“We are trying to bridge the gap between art and athletics and give the folks who come to town something unique and interesting,” Bartlett says.
Time to put away those foam fingers and pull out the paintbrushes. This event is for the inner modern artists in all of those starting quarterbacks or wannabe fans.
“It brings art to a group that doesn’t normally get art,” says MU sophomore Greg Lindsey, of The Maneater staff.
Fans of art and football alike can walk The District and enjoy art or bring the family and the lawn chairs to just sit and enjoy the free music at any of the stages set up. If that still doesn’t catch your fancy, limited free alcohol tastings will be provided in some of the areas. Because what’s a little football without a tailgate?
