A NEWS &E LOS ANGELES
DOWNTOWN Volume 39, Number 40
INSIDE
Pershing Square lights up.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
FALL PREVIEW Pull-Out Section
9 – 24
W W W. D O W N T O W N N E W S . C O M
October 4, 2010
What the Heck Happened to Art Walk? War of Words Rages Over the Future of the Popular Downtown Event
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Urban Scrawl on the Art Walk battle.
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More apartments, more issues.
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The big reach of AECOM.
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photo by Gary Leonard
The monthly Art Walk draws more than 10,000 people to Downtown. The size has made it difficult to manage, leading to a battle over its future.
by Richard Guzmán city editor
From beer to eternity.
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Streetcar event raises $200,000.
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16 CALENDAR LISTINGS 20 MAP 30 CLASSIFIEDS
O
n the afternoon of Friday, Sept. 24, developer Tom Gilmore heard that the immensely popular Downtown Art Walk had been abruptly canceled for the rest of 2010. When he checked out the Art Walk website, he had the same stunned reaction as many in the Central City. “I thought, what the [expletive]?” Gilmore said when he read the statement on downtownartwalk. com posted by Jay Lopez. The announcement identified Lopez as the director of the event. Although Gilmore is not officially involved with Art Walk, his Old Bank District is at the center of the monthly gathering that lures more than 10,000 people to peruse galleries and eat and drink at area restaurants, bars and food trucks. He immediately fired off an email to Lopez, asking him literally the same question. “What the [expletive]?” wrote Gilmore. The statement began a tumultuous period which, a week later (as of Los Angeles Downtown News’ press time) is still full of uncertainty. The situation has devolved into a bitter case of he saidthey said, with Lopez and the six-member Art Walk board of directors engaged in a war of words, as well as one for control of the event’s website and
social media accounts. Even now, there are diverging claims on whether Lopez still has his job and whether the next Art Walk, scheduled for Oct. 14, will take place: The board maintains it will, while Lopez says he is not organizing it. Whatever happens, it continues to be a difficult period for the 6-year-old Art Walk. A departure by Lopez would bring the fourth leader in little more than a year. It also comes as the event struggles with an identity crisis, one that has long been simmering and now looks to have exploded. In September 2009, Downtown News published a story on the event titled “Art Walk or Party Walk.” The Explosion As those involved with Art Walk seek to determine the future of the event, questions continue about what prompted the bombshell announcement. The Sept. 24 statement said, “In recent years the Downtown Art Walk has grown so large that it has become too costly to manage in its current form.” It said Art Walk would be cancelled for the remainder of 2010 and would return next year as a daytime, quarterly affair. The Art Walk board quickly set up its own website, artwalkla.wordpress.com. A statement dated Sept. 25 said the Oct. 14 event will go on as planned. It added that the board is in control of
The Voice of Downtown Los Angeles
the nonprofit organization. It labeled Lopez “the event’s former director.” Board members allege that Lopez changed the passwords and locked them out of the Art Walk website, as well as the organization’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. In an interview Tuesday, Lopez maintained he was still the director and that Art Walk was still canceled for 2010. He said he was as surprised as the board about what transpired. “I’m amazed and shocked myself at their whole statements,” Lopez said. “We’ve discussed doing this for months. I am definitely the director of the Art Walk and we’re moving forward on producing the January Downtown event.” The board met later that Tuesday and voted unanimously to dismiss Lopez. David Hernand, a member of the board, said Lopez would soon be notified of the decision by an attorney. “Frankly, we’re all really surprised about Jay,” said Hernand. “I’m floored that Jay decided to take this action.” Meeting in Dispute People on both sides of the issue acknowledge that the board had talked about canceling Art Walk. Board members maintain, however, that this was only one of numerous options discussed, see Art Walk, page 28