Photo: Chris Hatcher

ArtNight Pasadena, a bi-annual open house featuring over 20 Pasadena arts, cultural, music and performance organizations, held March 8, drew hundreds of visitors to ArtCenter to view exhibitions at three of our galleries, from Hillside to South Campus.

ArtNight is a free public event with ArtCenter origins. Twenty years ago Vice President and Williamson Gallery Director Stephen Nowlin and Armory Center for the Arts’ Gallery Director Jay Belloili collaborated on the idea of promoting the many cultural offerings in to be found in Pasadena. Working with colleagues at the Norton Simon Museum, One Colorado and Southwest Chamber Music, ArtNight was born. Designers from our Marketing and Communications Department have provided pro-bono graphic design for the event since its inception. The original ArtNight logo was designed by an ArtCenter student in 1999 and redesigned by MarCom’s design team in 2004.

Two decades later, ArtNight is a model public/private partnership. With the City of Pasadena’s Arts and Cultural Affairs Department as general manager along with a committee of reps from each non-profit venue and generous funding from the Pasadena Arts and Culture Commission, the popular occasion takes place the second Fridays of March and October. Each evening draws over 30,000 visitors who explore exhibits, performances and activities, and utilize free shuttle-buses that ferry them from venue to venue throughout the four-hour long festivities. Hundreds of guests explored ArtCenter’s galleries—GARB at Hillside’s Williamson Gallery, Mike/Sierra/Tangotypography at the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography at South Campus’ 950 building, and Details of Design at the 1111 building’s Mullin Gallery, were all official participants in the March 2019 ArtNight.

The next ArtNight will take place on October 11, 2019, from 6 to 10pm. Grab a friend, gather the family, and experience the fun, diversity, wonder, and intrigue of the arts in Pasadena!

See artnightpasadena.org for more information.