DC Art All Night festival paints the District red once more

D.C.’s Art All Night festival returns this weekend for its 11th year, featuring more than 100 local artists, as well as live performances, interactive art activities and more spanning all eight wards.

Events begin across the city Friday evening and continue into Saturday night. Attendees can find a map of which neighborhoods are hosting events on the Art All Night website, which includes links to more detailed event schedules.

“Artists and makers across D.C. help us celebrate the history and culture of our community, and this weekend, we celebrate and honor them,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a news release. “When we support our creatives and their businesses, we support the type of growth and innovation that help our corridors, neighborhoods, communities, and residents thrive.”

On Friday, events will be held in Anacostia, Petworth, NoMA, Columbia Heights, Glover Park and Georgetown, among other locations. On Saturday, there are events around U Street, Shaw, Dupont Circle, H Street, Tenleytown, Congress Heights and more.

Some interesting Friday events include Ethiopian coffee ceremonies at African Union Mission; the world’s largest harmonica case collection at McCormick Paints; jazz performances at The VIP Room; a floral arrangement class at Flowers by Alexes; a rooftop silent disco at Provost; a performance by the Opera-tizers at Sfoglina; live demonstrations at Eastern Market Pottery, and a drive-thru art gallery in Anacostia.

On Saturday, festival-goers can enjoy a Black Beer Garden at the Howard Theatre parking lot; music and fashion showcases in Congress Heights; the Woodley Park Arts Market at the 2600 block of Connecticut Avenue; the Black Broadway on U Immersive Experience at the Masonic Temple, and a special mini-market of “DC Craft: Past and Present DC Beer All Week(end)” at the Heurich House Biergarten, among other events.

This year marks the second in-person Art All Night festival since 2019; in 2021, the festival attracted 120,000 visitors to 19 neighborhoods around the district.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival went all-virtual, with more than 25,000 livestream viewers and 2.5 million social media engagements.

Launched in 2011, the festival was modeled after La Nuit Blanche in D.C.’s sister city, Paris — a dusk-til-dawn arts festival taking place across the entire city; that year, the festival drew about 30,000 visitors from around the DMV.

Vivian Medithi

Vivian Medithi is digital writer/editor. Vivian has been with WTOP since 2019.

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