The St. Paul Art Crawl, a multiple-weekend public art festival organized by the St. Paul Art Collective, starts April 25 and goes until May 11.
Each weekend, a different St. Paul gallery, restaurant, venue or other participating location will host showcases of local art. More than 42 venues across St. Paul are participating in the event, up from 30 last year, according to SPAC Executive Director Mariusz Kujawski.
This year’s art crawl will feature a variety of exhibitions, workshops, food trucks, live music and art markets.
Melissa Critchley, an artist at F-O-K Studios, said more than a thousand people have come through to see the work on display in past years. This year, 30 artists in F-O-K’s six-story building will open their studios to the public, accompanied by food trucks and performance art throughout the weekend.
“It’s always a big bash at our building,” Critchley said.
The first weekend is in St. Paul’s Lowertown, Westside and West 7th neighborhoods. Kujawski said the art crawl began in Lowertown in 1991.
As the event grew and artists began to open galleries in other parts of the city, the art crawl grew as well. This year’s edition will cover the whole city of St. Paul and the city’s east and northwest sides will host the second and third weekends, respectively.
“It’s amazing how the artists come together,” Kujawski said.
Since making membership free in January, SPAC has nearly doubled in size, Kujawski said. Having more members makes it easier to get sponsors and partners for programming and events like the art crawl, he said.
32 non-profit organizations are participating in this year’s crawl, up from eight last year. Kujawski said those partnerships have helped SPAC recoup the costs of cutting membership fees, so artists no longer need to worry about the financial burden of participating in crawl.
“Everyone’s a little more relaxed this year,” Kujawski said.
Metro Transit is offering free bus passes for the art crawl on April 26 and 27. More information can be found on the St. Paul Art Crawl website.