First Posted: 4/1/2013
First Friday is certainly not something that is new to The Vintage Theater. It is a night of displaying everything that the theater celebrates, including art and music. In the past, the Vintage has hosted everything from traditional painting shows to photography shows.
“First Friday pretty much involves everything we do at The Vintage,” said owner Theresa O’Connor. “We’ll have a musician playing in the background. It brings what we do all month together in one day.”
For this month’s First Friday, The Vintage has decided to host a night of recycled art projects. Five artists will be competing head-to-head to see who has come up with the best piece of collaborative art. The only challenge is that their artwork must consist of at least 75 percent recycled materials that would normally be discarded if they didn’t have any other use. The art will be displayed throughout the entire month of April.
After being approached by the Lackawanna Valley Conservancy to do a fundraiser for the organization, The Vintage has decided to donate half of the proceeds collected from any recycled art that is sold to the LVC. In partnership with The Vintage, the Morning Glory Cafe has also decided to donate to the LVC. They will be giving 10 percent of their sales to the LVC throughout the month of April as long as people bring their own coffee cup to fill.
“We actually do a lot of benefit shows working with nonprofit organizations in the area,” O’Connor said.
“A part of our mission is to be involved with community, and we’ve just been approached so many times to do a benefit. A lot of our organizations can be spotlighted through art, so it works really well in our location.”
The night of revived art will feature artwork from five local artists, including a sculpture made out of broken cell phones by Allison LaRussa. Along with selling artwork, The Vintage will have a basket raffle to collect additional funds to donate to the LVC.
“We usually get between 200 and 400 people in the door. A lot of times it’s new people, but we definitely have regulars that come in. It just helps to get new people in to see our space and see what we’re all about. It gets artists shown, and it gets the cafe business,” O’Connor added.
In addition to hosting a night of revived art projects, The Vintage will be having a second fundraising night for the Lackawanna Valley Conservancy. On Saturday, March 30, they will be hosting a benefit concert featuring Ed Cuozzo of A Social State, Katie Kelly, and Ed Zaleski. The show will start at 8 p.m., and a donation of $5 will be taken at the door.
