richard,
I am disheartened as to the lack of research before what is called news comes to the surface for the masses to read as fact.
I have put the time into this community and am privey to the not so fun stuff that san diego has a propensity toward. this town can especially run in a vacuum.
I have been quiet as my focuse and purpose was to get a program going in northpark where all businesses arts and retail come togehter to develop a for real arts district and artist community, the person who is being given noteriety is in the same person who has made this effort so difficult, the reality is gustav did not make this event it was many many people, lots of casulaties, (count the number of galleries that have closed and look at who is left..
what is being touted
the fall of ray.. is a little late, ray was a party and was a failure for the rise and sustaining of the arts and art community. many reasons from bad business practices to lack of focused marketing. Ray did bring in the numbers and is probably the ....... i do not want to include the rest of my comment but this should give you a better reality to what is really going on

Tim,

Raw video footage is hard not to read as fact, and multiple eyewitness accounts of a successful Ray at Night event only slightly less so.

What those facts add up to however is a matter of art, and as such is entitled to all the appurtenances of ambiguity therein.

Best,

Richard

What existed before Ray at Night? People are just jealous of Gustaf. If you could do something better, then why didn't you? It's easier to criticize then to "do"!

Remember the "Man in the Arena".....

Before Ray at Night — way long before — San Diego had ArtWalk. Not the hypertrophied food and craft fair that everyone knows and hates, but (before it was body-snatched) a bona fide open-studio event featuring real artists in real studios.

But to believe such a thing ever existed here in San Diego, you'd first have to believe in a primordial age where hookers and sailors ruled the Gaslamp. Yeah, right.

Let's not romanticize Artwalk. It was one weekend, once a year. I remember hoards of people walking through my studio in the Gaslamp, and they were no better informed than those who party at Ray each month. (Nor did they buy much art.)

I'd rather the more regular art event. Gets the public in a rhythm of seeing art: "hey it's the first of the month, let's go to Ray..." Sports makes it work with season tickets, why not art?

Ever hopeful...

Kloe -

I don't believe anyone is romanticizing ArtWalk, in fact, it seems there is a long standing tradition of sabotage (non-violent) and tom foolery in the hopes of undermining this event by local SD artists. I had the chance to participate in one such event a few years back and am planning to do so again this year. Shhhussshhhh... don't tell anyone!

ArtWalk

As for Ray at Night, and to use your analogy, "sports makes it work with winning teams." Meaning as it stands, Ray at Night is not a winning team. I would agree with you that consistency helps, every month there's something new to see and do and that it could help to fidelize a art loving public. But the public can only do so much - show up, look, and hopefully find something for their soul and for their wall.

The responsibility of how Ray at Night, North Park Nights, North Park in general, and any other arts district (Kettner and co., Little Italy, etc.) rests squarely on the shoulders of the artists who are exhibiting and the choices the gallery owners, directors, and shop keepers are making. As it stands now, the somewhat decimated gallery scene on Ray Street with a hybrid of shows of inconsistent quality, reduced wall space, and general lack of vision and direction, coupled with satellite spaces that are hardly getting the attention they deserve (the quality of which is also spotty at times) makes for a larger distraction (party) and a lackluster art experience.

Ever hopeful, yes, so am I. I just think we can't afford to forget that the quality of art and everything that it contains intrinsically, does more for the public and us, than any notion of art (as it is currently exhibited on Ray St.) can do.