Wanting to bring more retail options downtown Baton Rouge, local groups will partner the first week of December to host the Downtown Arts Exchange, a week-long artists and merchants market.
Set for the Main Street Market, the collaboration will feature nearly a dozen vendors, including jewelry sellers, candles, folk art, debris art, pottery, cutting boards and fine art photography, according to Renee Chatelain, president and CEO of the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge.
“From my perspective, it’s all about celebrating local makers who bring quality work to a place where people who are living and working downtown can access it,” she says.
Whitney Hoffman Sayal, with the Downtown Development District, says they saw during the week there was underutilized space at the Main Street Market and thought the holiday market would pump life into the space while also making holiday shopping easier for those who live, work or are visiting downtown.
The brainchild of the Mid City Makers Market, DDD, Arts Council and the Big River Economic and Agricultural Development Alliance, the event, if successful, could become a more permanent attraction.
“Anything that meets the mission of Main Street Market by supporting local small entrepreneurs, in this case, artists and craftsmen, is good, and what better time to do this than the holidays,” says Davis Rhorer, the DDD’s executive director.
