Lofty Space

First Friday looks to help make the Trenton Makes complex a thriving artists’ community.

By: Matt Smith
   The Urban Word Café and Conduit nightclub are the legs on which the Trenton Makes arts complex will stand, but its artistic heart and soul might end up being the interconnected studios that twist through the 19th century buildings on South Broad Street.
   The upstairs and part of the basement of the three corner buildings have been transformed into 26 spaces housing artists working in every media imaginable: a body artist, an arts-related public relations firm and a pair of funky shops.
   To help these artists and retailers get off the ground in their new home, the three owners have created First Friday, a monthly happening highlighted by an exhibition of selected artists’ works, open studios and a reception in the Skyline Room, the complex’s third-floor ballroom with a chandelier and hardwood floors.
   Ideally, says co-owner David Henderson, you can buy a painting, browse the Mind and Soul Bookstore and Dream Laloz record shop or even get a tattoo, all sandwiched between dinner at the Urban Word and a concert at Conduit. Borrowed from the First Friday event that’s helped make Philadelphia’s Olde City section a thriving arts destination, the goal of the Trenton version is to show off the complex while providing a means for the artists to display and sell their work. And, says Mr. Henderson, artists get relatively cheap workspace in an environment that breeds creativity.
   "There’s this huge artistic community in and around Trenton that’s looking for a place to sell their wares, to create their work," he says. "The whole New Hope and Lambertville scene has matured and gotten expensive, so for young artists, that’s really not accessible."
   Mr. Henderson says the spaces weren’t advertised, but filled up within three weeks just by word of mouth, partly because they were even cheaper if the artists finished the restoration work.
   "Part of their lease was that they took it semi-raw and finished it themselves, so the spaces are actually art at this point," he says. "They can work 24 hours a day, seven days a week in there, and then certain times, the biggest of which will be First Friday, the whole building becomes very high-profile gallery space to sell their work."
The next First Friday event at the Trenton Makes complex takes place Oct. 5, 5-9 p.m. On the Web: www.urbanword.com/trentonmakes