Fort Wayne’s Broadway corridor has become an art lover’s haven.

With at least eight locations between West Washington Boulevard and Brackenridge Street selling variations of art, the corridor goes by the Broadway Arts District.

 To showcase all they have to offer, the corridor has hosted the annual Broadway Street Stroll. Taking it a step further, the shops have been hosting First Fridays since June to get more people to take notice.

 “We wanted to have something people could look forward to on the first Friday of every month,” said Brian Robertson, co-owner of Gallery 02, 1115 Broadway, with John C. Kelty.

The upcoming First Friday will be, you guessed it, Friday, Nov. 1, from 5-8 p.m. 

Along with the regular art shops along the corridor, you will want to swing by Electric Works, too, as the opening of the Thinking in Color exhibit coincides with First Fridays at Chapman’s Brewing. Featured artists in the exhibit are Cameron Omega, Drece L. Guy, Thomas Leffers, Nancy Fritz, and Teresa Vazquez.

Hitting the recruiting trail

Not long after setting up her shop, Ruth Koomler Art Gallery, at 1107 Broadway in 2022, Ruth Koomler began to daydream.

“I had this vision of the Broadway Arts District,” she said. “Terry Ratliff was across the street (with Terry Ratliff Fine Art at 1124 Broadway). When (Antiques on Broadway) went out (in 2023), I started calling everyone I knew to get a gallery in there, because it was the logical next step.”

In January, Robertson and Kelty answered the call.

“Ruth Koomler was a really big supporter in us opening because she saw the potential of what it could do in terms of drawing more people downtown,” Robertson said.

A few months later, Kreative Framing added a second location to join the strip at 1117 Broadway.

“When Gallery 02 was moving into one side of that spot, they were also looking for a renter for the other side,” Koomler said. “So, I contacted Jason Wagner at Kreative Framing, and he was like, ‘Yeah, I’d love to have a space downtown in the arts district.’ So, he opened, and he, Jon, Brian, Terry Ratliff … we just get along great. It’s like a big art family.”

The more, the merrier

It’s the camaraderie of the shop owners in the area that make it all work.

“When we came in about two doors down from Ruth, we told her, ‘We are not here to compete with you, we’re here to complement you,’ ” Robertson said. “When people are leaving our gallery, I’ll be sure to tell them to stop down to Ruth’s gallery.

“I think one of the keys that have made it really successful is that we got together as a group and really cross promote each other. We even do that on social media. When we put something on our gallery page, we make sure to mention our gallery, Terry Ratliff’s gallery — all the galleries and different stores that are open on Broadway.”

As she recruited galleries to join the corridor, it enabled her to help organize First Fridays.

“It was kind of hard to do when it was just me,” Koomler said. “Now we have so many businesses up and down the corridor here participating that it’s become quite an event.”

Now that it’s a team effort, things have only gotten better each month.

“It’s really been super-great,” Robertson said. “Everyone has been super supportive of everybody else. We do a lot of cross promoting. We meet after each First Friday to go over how it went what worked and what didn’t work. It’s definitely not every man for himself.”

Make an evening of it

First Fridays include more than checking out the artwork in each gallery, which the owners strive to keep diverse.

“We’ve had meetings about how to make the most of First Fridays and how to keep the galleries somewhat different, so we’re not north and south versions,” Koomler said.

Yes, there will be exhibits at each location, but there will be live music, such as Zach Kerschner at Koomler Fine Art and Ken Jehle at Gallery 02.

“It’s really about giving everybody something fun to come down and do,” Robertson said.

For Koomler, the warmer months meant fun activities out on her patio.

“We’re getting into the winter months, so it’s going to be a little different,” she said.

“This past First Friday, in October, we had six women painting in the parking lot, doing six paintings and each 10 minutes we were switching canvases. So, we had six collaborative paintings that proceeds from the sale of are going to Humane Fort Wayne. We do a lot of fundraising things here, but we just like to have fun.”

And with so much to do, it could be hard not to have fun.

“People can really come down and make a whole late afternoon, early evening out of it,” Robertson said. “They can get some food, get some beer and wine, and just see some fantastic stuff.”