Get ready for a night of creativity and celebration! On Saturday, February 28, 2026 from 6-9pm, DAC will debut Art of the Party, a new signature fundraiser that brings Durham’s community together for an unforgettable evening of artful party experiences.

Experience LIVE performances by beloved regional artists, bid on locally crafted artworks and experiences, and enjoy tasty bites from our favorite Durham restaurants!

Jazz & Jambalaya

Step into a spirited slice of New Orleans for you and 20 friends. This festive, flavor filled party package features delicious jambalaya and crave worthy sides from Succotash, live jazz vibes from NCCU student musicians, and a little magic on the side with Tarot card readings to peek at what the future holds.

Bluegrass & BBQ

Fire up the fun and bring on the charm with Bluegrass & BBQ, a toe tapping, tasty celebration for you and 20 friends. This party features live bluegrass featuring Charles Pettee, a Carolina style BBQ feast from Blue Note Grill with classic sides and dessert, plus a refreshing sweet tea station to keep the good times flowing. Make stunning centerpieces using a curated collection of handmade pottery by the late Skip Cunningham.

All proceeds support DAC’s mission including providing arts education opportunities, accessible public exhibits and festivals, and grants and resources to artists and arts organizations.

Individual and table tickets are now available!

Creativity is in bloom this Spring! Choose from over 100 classes and workshops in performing, literary, and visual arts and creative wellness. We’re always looking forward to returning class favorites, but there’s plenty of NEW things to check out, too:

We are excited to welcome two new members to the DAC School Faculty! 

Meghan Gambling is a television producer, screenwriter and award-winning playwright.  Plays and monologues are published with Original Works, Smith & Kraus, and Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, and her work has been recommended by Playbill, Variety, LA Weekly and The Village Voice. Meghan is a former Durham Arts Council camper (early 90s!) and a graduate of the first class of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Writing for the Stage and Screen program. After nearly two decades in Los Angeles, she is thrilled to be back in North Carolina working on her second novel and pitching her first! Meghan will be bringing two daytime writing classes to DAC this Spring: Finding Your Creative Voice – A Creative Writing Class and Intro to Playwriting – The Science of the Scene. 

Bright Black joins DAC as a partner, offering a new parent-child workshop series on Fridays, called, Playdate Create: Scent Storytelling. Proudly located in Durham, NC, Bright Black offers custom home and body products that tell stories using scent as our artistic medium. Bright Black also creates custom scent experiences and activations that allow you to design signature fragrances uniquely your own. Bright Black believes that the creative process is sacred, that community is everything, and that business should be a force for good. Every fragrance they craft is infused with positive intention and made by hand to share the transformative power of scent. At Bright Black, they’re more than candles. They are a Black-owned fragrance design studio where scent meets storytelling.

Creative wellness clears out the winter blues!

A lot of new and returning classes bring mindfulness to the artistic practice. Our resident creative wellness instructor, Erica Alexander, brings Intro Mindfulness and a Weekend Workshop in Flute Meditation this Spring. Dawn Meisch knows the meditative power of a zentangle practice and offers two new Friday Night Makes workshops in Zentangle Black Tile Brilliance and a fun Map Tangling workshop. Charisse Coleman wants to get you writing your way through self-exploration with Micro-Memoir: Writing About ‘Reunion’. And, if an upbeat wellness experience is more your speed, join Angela Duran for two dance classes: Dancefulness for the Soul and Breaking Free to Latin Beats! 

Add a new skill to your artistic arsenal!

Vera Weinfield adds to our growing list of painting classes with an Intro to Acrylics class this Spring. In printmaking, River Takada offers a new Weekend Workshop in Low-Tech Screen Printing, making the process something you can easily take to your home studio. Get introduced to carving your own printblocks with Friday Night Makes: Linocut Postcards taught by Rahela Laquidara. And, for the booklovers, Molly Coleman will breathe new life to your collection with Weekend Workshop: Transforming Paperback Books Into Beautiful Hardcovers.

Springtime – when art and nature collide!

Teaching artists take inspiration from the natural world when Spring is in bloom with these class offerings. Get outside with Gerry O’Neill for a one-day workshop, Landscape Painting at Duke Homestead, or if photography is more your speed, Freeman Long brings back his popular Bird Photography class this Spring. In Fiber Arts, bring your favorite animal to life with Jan French in Weekend Workshop: Learn to Weave – Animal Pockets. Hattie Pink brings two Friday Night Makes workshops inspired by a spiritual connection to our environment by creating a Tree of Life Copper-Wrapped Pendant with Gemstones and Fun Friends with Felt – think gnomes, fairies, and fungi!

The CenterFest 2026 performer application is opening Friday, February 13th, 2026! This year’s CenterFest is on Saturday, September 19th and Sunday, September 20th, 2026.

The 51st Annual CenterFest is the longest running outdoor juried arts festival in North Carolina. The festival boasts juried visual artists from near and far, great entertainment, lots of food and fun, and educational activities for kids. CenterFest 2026 will include two performance stages showcasing music, dance, street performers, and community groups. The Durham Arts Council’s goal is to showcase community artists, with a focus on performers who may not be represented in the wider arts sector. Performance artists and groups who identify as BIPOC are encouraged to apply.

Durham Arts Council will be using themes from America250 in festival programming. We are looking at performances which responds to the chosen themes.  More information will be provided in the acceptance materials.   

Application closes June 1st, 2026

We’re excited to announce two amazing exhibitions being showcased in the Allenton Gallery and Semans Gallery, opening this weekend!

“Carving Light “, a relief printmaking exhibition by artist ciara anais stewart in the Allenton Gallery. ciara uses light (or lack thereof) to emphasize her subjects to convey intensity, power and strength, and even a sense of holiness. The works in this exhibition are of moments of quiet introspection and stillness, protest and triumph, and human connection in everyday life.  

“You Are Your First Home” by Britney Symone will be upstairs in the Semans Gallery and feature multiple mediums, both digital and physical. Britney’s process of designing, painting, framing, and embellishing digital art with beadwork and other media gives each piece unique physicality and intention. Her inspiration is found in the vibrancy of Black diasporic cultures, nature’s serenity, spirituality’s depth, and the gift of emotional tenderness.

Save the date for our Third Friday Artist’s Reception to celebrate these amazing artworks on Friday, February 20th from 6pm-8pm!

We’ve been nominated! Help us and support the arts in Durham by voting the Durham Arts Council for Durham Magazine‘s annual Best of Durham poll by February 20 at midnight. You know we have a lot going on, so check out the following categories below to vote for us in:

Best Art Gallery

Best Summer Camp

Best Dance Studio

Best Event Space

Best Festival

Best Venue for Community Theatre

Best Live Music Venue Small

The Durham Arts Council is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and local arts agency dedicated to supporting the arts in Durham and the NC Triangle Region since 1954. Each year DAC serves over 400,000 visitors and participants, over 2,000 artists, and more than 300 arts and cultural organizations through classes, workshops, events, grants, and advocacy.

DAC is a catalyst in the cultural development of Durham – it leads, inspires, and promotes excellence in and access to the creation, experience, and active support of the arts for all the people of our community.