More than 200 artists are still represented. There’s still creative window installations, artist demonstrations, live music, great shopping, etc. But this year’s Art Walk Spring Market takes a new, techy turn.
The Durham Arts Council, Bull City Connector and new mobile app program Bull City Buck$ are collaborating on an Art Walk “Scan”venger hunt, where each Art Walk site features a QR code that can be scanned to earn Buck$, which can then be redeemed for prizes and free eats at local businesses and restaurants. Most Art Walk sites will be worth one Buck, while Art Walk hub sites like Vega Metals and Golden Belt will be worth eight Buck$.
Vistors can also earn Buck$ by riding the Bull City Connector or attending Art Walk after parties at Beyu Caffe, The Pinhook and Bull City Burger and Brewery.
“These won’t be exactly ‘official’ Art Walk events because the art walk hours are daytime,” says Lindsay Gordon, artist services manager at the Durham Arts Council. “But we see this as a way of extending the festivities into the later hours and of keeping people in downtown even longer. … A continuation of Art Walk’s mission to get people into Durham so they can experience how great it is!”
The Bull City Connector is sponsoring the parties, the first of which will be at Beyu Caffe on Friday from 5:30-8pm. Saturday’s party at The Pinhook runs from 5-8pm, and Sunday’s Bull City Burger and Brewery party lasts from 5-7pm.
Each event will have live music and a representative from Bull City Buck$ present to help explain the Buck$ system and get people signed up.
There’ll be plenty kid-friendly festivities as well, including a nine-hole putt-putt course at Golden Belt, hands-on activities at the Museum of Durham History’s new History Hub, and a Calder-esque community arts day in Central Park presented by Fab Labs Carolinas to raise awareness of the Alexander Calder exhibit at the Nasher Museum of Art.
