NORTHAMPTON — Northampton’s Arts Night Out, the long running mini-festival at which local galleries, stores, and other locales host open houses to celebrate the city’s creative activity, is poised to get a kickstart with a new appointment.
Mischa Roy, the founder and owner of Spill the Tea Sis Apothecary on Main Street, has been named the new Arts Night Out Coordinator by the Downtown Northampton Association (DNA), the nonprofit organization that has long taken a lead role in promoting and producing the event, staged every second Friday evening each month.
Roy has a deep background in the arts — she previously was a hand-cut paper artist, exhibiting her work at sites such as the Paradise City Arts Festival and the Big E — and she’s made art a big part of her business, which sells candles, tea, books, T-shirts, and artwork, among other items, and also stages community events.
As such, she says she’s thrilled to take on the job of revitalizing Arts Night Out, which like so many other artistic events and locales had to shut down during the pandemic and is still looking to get fully back in stride.
“I’m really excited about helping the city and the DNA revisit Arts Night Out and develop a different model that can help artists and local businesses come together,” said Roy. “Developing those relationships can really be an engine not just for a great event but for helping downtown.”
Jillian Duclos, interim director of the DNA, said the organization has been without an Arts Night Coordinator for several months.
In addition, former DNA Executive Director Amy Cahillane, who also helped oversee the event, left her position this past summer to head Greenfield’s Community and Economic Development Department.
“We really want to bring some new focus and energy to Arts Night Out,” said Duclos. “Mischa has a lot of good ideas and lots of energy.”
In fact, Duclos said Roy approached the DNA a month or so ago to suggest taking on the job. She didn’t know her personally, Duclos noted, but she’d heard of Roy through other business owners and some artists.
“She’s a mover and shaker,” Duclos said with a laugh.
For instance, Roy has led the organizing of a monthly downtown “Block Party” in warm weather in which local businesses, including her own, and artists turn the area from Center Street to Cracker Barrel Alley into a hub of art displays, live performance and curated merchandise sales.
Roy says part of her plan for expanding Arts Night Out is to make live music a regular part of the event, especially by hosting acoustic musicians in different businesses. She wants to enlist not just regional performers but artists from throughout New England.
Another goal is to make diversity a key component of the event, spotlighting artists from different backgrounds and disciplines, including dance and performance as well as visual art and music.
“My idea is to make Northampton the go-to place that I remember visiting when I was a teenager and I’d come here with my parents,” said Roy, who grew up in Holyoke.
Duclos believes a revitalized Arts Night Out will not only support local artists but help spark an economic resurgence in the city “by drawing people here on a Friday and getting them to stay, either eating in a restaurant or staying in a hotel for the weekend.”
“We’re seeing signs that the city is rebounding,” she added. “Now the Iron Horse is going to reopen. It’s exciting.”
The DNA, meantime, has received $125,000 in federal ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funding to help with new promotion of Arts Night Out and with other work, Duclos said.
The organization is transitioning to become a full 501C organization by next year, she noted, after which a decision will be made on hiring a new permanent director.
Steve Pfarrer can be reached at spfarrer@gazettenet.com.