In 1994, Artlink began promoting the monthly First Fridays art walk in Phoenix, which has grown to become one of the largest monthly art walks in the United States. Many artist studios, cultural venues, and creative businesses open free to the public or provide arts-related experiences on the first Friday of each month. As a beloved arts-focused community tradition that began over 30 years ago, First Fridays began by welcoming people to downtown Phoenix, and has grown as a decentralized event across the region. With activity extending beyond Roosevelt Row to Historic Grand Avenue, Melrose, Midtown, and other parts of Central Phoenix, First Fridays art walks celebrating local creative communities can now be found nation-wide.
Check out the First Fridays Map Here
Visit Artlink’s Artinerary.com to find a current schedule of exhibitions and events throughout Arizona for First Fridays and all the days in between. Creativity. Connected.
City of Phoenix Downtown Arts Vending on Private Property Permit
In September of 2026, the City of Phoenix City Council approved a new one-year pilot program designed to support First Fridays and support local businesses, specifically within a designated area in the Roosevelt Row Arts District, between 7th Street and 7th Avenue.
Under the Downtown Arts Vending on Private Property Pilot Program (DAVOPP), businesses within the DAVOPP footprint can apply for permits to host vendors selling paintings, jewelry, ceramics, clothing, and other locally made art. Artisanal food and drinks are allowed too, with extra permits needed for food trucks.
Visit phoenix.gov for more information on the Downtown Arts Vending on Private Property Permit.
Are You a Vending Artist?
Get your art in front of arts-supportive businesses, venues, and event producers by identifying yourself as an artist vendor in Artlink’s ArtistsAZ directory and on our Artinerary arts and culture discovery platform.
- Become an Articipant! Register as an Artist Articipant to gain access to our directory and platforms.
- Sign in to your Artinerary Artist Articipant account
- Go to your Dashboard
- Select “My Profile”
- Follow Artist Vendor Instructions
- Scroll to the bottom of the page to make sure your profile is public, then save your changes.
That’s it! You can now check the Artinerary and ArtistsAZ directory for your listing. Updates can take up to 15 minutes to appear.
First Fridays History
In the early 1990s a small group of artists created informal gatherings called “Phoenix Arts Afterhours,” where galleries and studios stayed open late and invited the public to explore a largely quiet downtown. By 1994, the nonprofit Artlink Inc. stepped in to help coordinate and legitimize the growing event, shifting it to the first Friday of each month and rebranding it as “First Fridays.” Artlink provided structure by organizing maps, promoting participating venues, acting as a liaison with the city, and sponsoring a circulating trolley that connected key districts and made the expanding event more accessible, though still a grassroots effort.
Over time, the event expanded through a gradually developing network of arts districts and institutions, including the Roosevelt Row, Historic Grand Avenue, the Warehouse District, Central Arts District and major cultural anchors like the Phoenix Art Museum, Herberger Theater Center and Downtown Phoenix Inc. Each organically contributed venues, programming, promotion support and audiences. This evolving collaboration helped transform First Fridays from a small, artist-led “experiment” into a broad cultural event central to downtown Phoenix’s revitalization.
Third Fridays came years later, and is sometimes referred to as “Gallery Night,” due to the number of exhibition openings that take place. A smaller scale night of events, Third Fridays was also considered a prime time for collectors to acquire new works of art before the crowds of First Fridays.
