Are you ready for the first Venice Art Crawl of 2012? 2011 saw the popularity of the event surge and it cemented itself as a wonderful monthly event in the community. But the creators of the event weren’t satisfied with last year’s success and are ready to start off 2012 with a bang.

January’s event will feature a “Venice Lights” installation, which will be on Market Street between Pacific and Speedway and will run from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. This installation will have more than 20 outdoor light and video pieces to take in and will take up all of Market Street.

This is an expansion on the “December Lights” installation that the Art Crawl ran last month – which I am ashamed to say I missed – and was quite a hit. January’s event will be even bigger, and is definitely worth checking out.

I have been pleasantly surprised with how the Venice Art Crawl has taken off. It seemed the minute that a venue was created for local – and foreign – artists to showcase their work in a fun and open environment, everyone jumped on it. The event is now routinely packed with artists, local people from the community, and people from all over LA looking to get in on the action.

To get an idea of how far the Art Crawl has come, check out my video below from the very first Venice Art Crawl and compare it to tonight’s event. The event has come a long way.

The best way to stay up to date on all the happenings is to go to the Art Crawl’s website and check out the map of events. The site maps out all of the shows going on that night and is complete with Facebook invites so you can RSVP! In addition to the “Venice Lights” show, there will also be shows at the Venice Ale House and at 1320 Main Street, to name a few.

So get out there and experience the first Venice Art Crawl of 2012, I know you won’t be disappointed. Remember, it has been cold at night, so bring ample warm clothes so you can make it through the night.

Have you been to the Venice Art Crawl? What has been your experience? Did you attend the December lights show? How was it?