How to Celebrate Dallas Arts Month This April

The largest arts district in the U.S. is shutting down for a free block party to celebrate Dallas Arts Month. The Changing Perspectives Block Party on April 14 will feature arts and crafts stalls, food trucks, a GIF photo booth, live speed-painting and music for dancing. There will also be two performances by Australia’s Strange Fruit, a performing arts company that combines circus, theater and dance into a riveting show.

The Dallas literary scene is producing plenty of creative words from authors and poets, and the best way to experience that during Dallas Arts Month is by attending a Dallas Lit Hop event. Dallas Lit Hop is a month-long literary festival in April that features a variety of readings throughout the city. The Lit Hop kick-off will showcase music, dance and the written word at live shows in Deep Ellum, while the One Page Salon event invites local published authors to read one page of new works in progress at Wild Detectives. There’s also going to be a literary pub crawl, Expo Park Crawl and a live podcast recording for Hidden Scribes, a project that shares stories of emerging writers. A reading by crime fiction author Walter Mosley will wrap up the month at Kessler Theater.

Between April 6–8, Deep Ellum will be filled with stalls and booths for the Deep Ellum Arts Festival. Not only can you purchase jewelry, artwork or crafts from 200 decorative and visual artists, you can enjoy live music with 100 bands and singers performing on six different stages. There will be food stalls, booths and specials among the restaurants in Deep Ellum, as well as a pet parade.

There’s no better time to visit a Dallas museum or art gallery than during Dallas Arts Month. Many of the museums like Meadows Museum, Dallas Museum of Art and the Dallas Holocaust Museum will have special exhibits throughout the month, as will cultural centers and spaces like the South Dallas Cultural Center and NorthPark Center. However, consider visiting smaller galleries like Ferrari Gallery, Jen Mauldin Gallery or even Umbrella Gallery, which is showcasing a photography exhibit by Morgana Wilborn called K.L.R.D. G.R.L.S. inspired by the poem, “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf” by Ntozake Shange.

We mustn’t forget that art comes in many forms like dance and music! Dallas Arts Month will have some engaging performances like Tao: Drum Heart, a large-scale drum performance at the Annette Strauss Square and Waitress, a musical at Fair Park presented by Dallas Summer Musicals. A Spring Dance Concert will be riveting at the Owens Arts Center, as will an American Classics Festival at Majestic Theatre. Be sure to check out the Dallas Arts Month page for more live performances throughout the month.

The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens have garden displays throughout the year that are artistic in themselves, however, from April 27–29, they’ll actually have visual and decorative art among their gardens at their annual Artscape Fair. Peruse arts and craft booths that will feature 100 artists from throughout the country, enjoy live music and food and wine tastings or take in some art demonstrations during the Artscape Fair weekend. After you purchase something amazing, you can enjoy a stroll through one of the most beautiful gardens in the world.