Friday Night Live begins in Downtown Salina this evening in Campbell Plaza.

The new concert series is a collaboration with downtown business owners and Salina Arts and Humanities.

“As you’re walking around that just creates a wonderful environment when you can hear live music kind of playing all around you,” said Stacy Ash with Salina Arts and Humanities.

According to Ash, organizers spent months defining how art related events would weave together on Fridays – to help bring more citizens and visitors to the downtown district.

There are three components of the new Friday Night Live series:

1.    Each week, a free-admission Friday Night Live concert will feature music and poetry events in restaurants, bars, outdoor plazas and other venues, beginning Friday, May 6th at Campbell Plaza.

2.    First Fridays, held on the first Friday of each month, will include visual, music and other arts performances scheduled at local downtown businesses and other sites. This programming was formerly known as First Thursday Art Rush. It has been rolled into Friday Night Live and will be promoted as such.

3.    Select cultural venues, including the Smoky Hill Museum, will continue to offer programming on the first Thursday of each month. These events will be promoted in conjunction with Friday Night Live.

On Friday, May 6th, the initial Friday Night Live programming kicks off with First Friday visual arts programming downtown at Peaceful Body Wellness Retreat, Sweet On You, Team Employment and The Flower Nook, and at Salina Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at 901 Beatrice, from 5:00- 7:00

The featured concert performer tonight is Jill Cohn of Seattle, WA, who will play at Campbell Plaza from 6:45p.m to 7:45p.m.

Singer/songwriter Cohn has been described as having melodious vocals with warm storytelling lyrics complemented by guitar and percussion.

Her songs pay homage to artists like Joni Mitchell, Sarah McLachlan and Counting Crows, with tunes ranging from personal reflections to musical contemplations of pertinent social issues including domestic violence and vanishing rain forests.