Local artists and entertainers gather to display their talents at the grand opening of a downtown arts gallery on Friday night, March 11.

            The gallery, Downtown Sound on 115 S. Crawford, was first established as a place for local musicians to practice.            

            “We created it mainly as a practice space for bands that need to rehearse,” Robert Scafe, founder of the gallery, said. “We wanted to do that in the downtown area where all of the art galleries are so that we could exhibit music in some way and also art as well.”

            Downtown Sound’s open house included a wide variety of art forms.

            “There was poetry, there was music, there was art on the walls,” Scafe said. “It’s to create connections between different art forms. We want it to be a place where musicians and artists can come and network.

            “We want to promote the arts but we have an emphasis on music. Since there’s a lot of galleries down there, we feel like it would be good for there to be community space for music that’s not run for profit like a record store or something else.”

            Local musician Jayare Connaughton, Father Phil, performed at the open house and appreciates what Downtown Sound has to offer local artists.  

            “They’ve given us a venue to not only perform at but come together and practice. Downtown Sound is a good place to connect with other artists and musicians, wheter like-minded or not.

            “It was a really nice show.”