Locally based musicians have put some groove into select dates of the monthly Last Friday Gallery Stroll since 2022. The free event, known fittingly as the Art Music Gallery Stroll, which is made possible through a partnership forged by the Park City Gallery Association, the Arts Council of Par k City Summit County and Mountain Town Music, celebrates its fifth anniversary on Friday, said Park City Gallery Association Co-president Jen Schumacher. “It runs from 6 to 9 p.m. and there are 10 participating galleries this time,” she said (See accompanying box of galleries and musicians.) “People can look for the white Gallery Association flags that will be hanging outside participating galleries. And if people want to know more, we do have brochures and posters around town and information on our website, parkcitygalleryassociation.com.” The idea for the Art Music Gallery Stroll bloomed from a discussion between the Gallery Association and the Arts Council, said Arts Council Executive Director Jocelyn Scudder. “Our job and mission as an arts council is to ensure arts and culture thrives in our communities,” she said. “That means we want to be supporting artists and cultural organizations. But we also want to be supporting creative businesses. And our galleries are a big sector of that. We have a high concentration of galleries located on Main Street, and they are assets that should be celebrated.” As the two nonprofits discussed ideas to add energy to the gallery stroll, they looked at other similar events across the country, Scudder said. “We saw a lot of them had different activations and thought we should do that as well,” she said. The two organizations looked to Mountain Town Music, a nonprofit that brings the community together through music, education and scholarships, to help with selecting bands and musicians for the stroll. Brian Richards, Mountain Town Music’s community conductor of musical affairs, wasted no time getting involved. “The Gallery Stroll is already a beloved cultural tradition in Park City, and adding live music creates an atmosphere that encourages people to linger, explore the galleries and experience art in a more immersive way,” he said in an email interview. “Collaborations like this strengthen the overall creative ecosystem in our town — visual artists, musicians, galleries and audiences all benefiting from the shared energy of the arts.” The three-way partnership would not be possible if it weren’t for support from the Summit County Restaurant Tax Grant, Scudder said.  White Park City Gallery Association flags displayed during the Last Friday Gallery Stroll signify galleries that are association members. This month’s event on Friday will be an Art Music Gallery Stroll, which will feature live musicians performing at select galleries. Credit: Photo courtesy of Dan Campbell “We are so appreciative for that support because it enabled us to work with Mountain Town Music,” she said. Richards visits the participating galleries to get a feel of which bands or musicians to book. “Every gallery is a little different — different size, different acoustics, different layout — so we’re always thinking about what kind of music will work best in that particular space,” he said.  The challenges, he said, are logistical.  “Musicians are busy people, so coordinating everyone’s schedules can take a little puzzle-solving,” he said. “But those are good problems to have when you’re working with such a strong local-music community.” Schumacher, who owns Trove Gallery, enjoys hosting musicians during the stroll. “I can’t speak for everybody, but any time I have bands in the gallery the bands are thrilled to be included with the visual arts,” she said. “It’s an unusual setting for them, but they love to be included. And all the bands are top notch and always blow my mind.”  Richards enjoys seeing organic moments blossom between the public, the galleries and musicians, especially when the musicians get the chance to play for people they haven’t had the chance to do so in the past. “Someone walks into a gallery expecting to look at paintings, and suddenly there’s a great musician playing in the corner, and the whole room feels different,” he said. “People stay longer, they talk more, they connect. It just adds another layer to the creative energy of the evening.” Schumacher has seen the popularity of the Art Music Gallery Stroll grow over the years. “We do specialty strolls and this one has been the most popular by far,” she said. “When you have something this popular, you have to keep going because there are people who are counting on it and people who are interested in it.”  Friday marks the first of two Art Music Gallery Strolls of the year, according to Scudder. “We plan to do another in September with different lineups and potentially different participating galleries,” she said. “It’s a great way for visitors and locals to come and do a night out on the town and generate sales not only for galleries, but for restaurants as people grab dinner and pop into some galleries and see some of their new collections.”  Art Music Gallery Stroll When: 6-9 p.m. Friday Where: Main Street and off Main Street Web: tinyurl.com/yb57unae, pcscarts.org and mountaintownmusic.org Art MUsic Gallery Stroll Participating Galleries and Musicians CREATE PC Local Artist Collective, 1500 Kearns Blvd F110 — Lumberjack Fabulous Trove Gallery, 804 Main St. — 2 Book Trilogy Gallery MAR, 436 Main St. — ArtSound Players LIK Fine Art, 592 Main St. — Brooke Mackintosh Susan Swartz Studios, 260 Main St. — Iron Canyon Echoes David Beavis Fine Art, 314 Main St. — Kila Mateah Mountain Trails Gallery, 301 Main St. — Chloe Mae Summit Gallery, 825 Main St. — Debra Fotheringham Bret Webster Images, 312 Main St. — Karlie McKinnon Mangelsen Images of Nature Gallery, 364 Main St. — Aubrie Rose The post Art Music Gallery Stroll composes community connections appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less