Things To Do
|
Newsletter
|
Fraylife+
|
Fraylife+
  • Play

    Play

    • A Beginner’s Guide to Soccer
    • You Spin Me Right Round: D.C. Roller Skating 101 in 2021
    • Leading the League: The WNBA’s Natasha Cloud on Breaking Barriers + Inspiring D.C.
    • Spring Has Sprung: 10 Ways To Get Outside in the DMV
    • Play Week Combines Games + Social Impact
    • High and Go Seek Illustration
    • O Captain, My Captain: Washington Spirit’s Andi Sullivan
  • Life

    Life

    • Local Entrepreneurs Infuse CBD into Wellness
    • 19 Entrepreneurs Shaping D.C.’s Cannabis + CBD Industries
    • Upcycling in D.C.: Transforming a Culture of Consumption
    • The Green Issue: Experts + Advocates Make Case for Cannabis Legalization + Decriminalization
    • The District Derp Story
    • Grassfed Media Champions Cannabis Clients
    • Nat Geo Explorer Gabrielle Corradino on Plankton, the Anacostia + Conservation
  • Eat

    Eat

    • The State of Takeout in the District
    • A New Twist on Food Delivery: MisenBox
    • Next-Level Home Dining Experiences in D.C.
    • Foxtrot Market Is Officially Open for Business in Georgetown
    • Food Rescue + Assistance Programs Fill the Gaps in a Pandemic Food System
    • Hungry Harvest Helps to End Food Insecurity
    • Notable Summer Bar + Restaurant Reopenings to Try this Spring
  • Drink

    Drink

    • Pandemic Drinking: Derek Brown Leads the Way to Low-ABV Future
    • D.C.’s St. Vincent Wine Creates Covid-Conscious Experience
    • A New Way to Binge: Sobriety Anchors Business + Being for Gigi Arandid
    • King’s Ransom + The Handover in Alexandria Celebrate a First Year Like No Other
    • Wines of the World Are Just Around the Corner
    • Open-Air Drinking + Cocktail Delivery Changes in the DMV
    • Denizens Brewing Co.’s Emily Bruno: Brewing Change for Community + Industry
  • Culture

    Culture

    • The Artistry Behind D.C.’s Cannabis Culture
    • The Best Movies of 2021…So Far
    • The Survival of the Brutalist: D.C.’s Complicated Concrete Legacy
    • Plain Sight: A Street-Front Revolution in Radical Arts Accessibility
    • A Touch of Danger in Shakespeare Theatre Company’s “Romeo & Juliet”
    • Artgence + Homme: Where There’s Art, There’s a Story to Share
    • 21 D.C. Makers + Curators to Follow
  • Music

    Music

    • Emma G Talks Wammie Nominations and the D.C. Music Community
    • J’Nai Bridges: A Modern Mezzo-Soprano in a Changing Opera Landscape
    • Punk Legends The Go-Go’s Talk Four Decades of Sisterhood, Resilience + Zero Fucks Given
    • Ellen Reid “Soundwalk:” Exploring the Sonic Landscape at Wolf Trap
    • SHAED Releases First Full-Length Album in a “High Dive” of Faith
    • Obama + Springsteen Present “Renegades”
    • Christian Douglas Uses His “Inside Voice” on Pandemic-Inspired Debut Album
  • Events

    Events

    • Play Week 4.17-4.25
    • Midnight at The Never Get 4.30-6.21
    • Cannabis City Panel Presented by BĀkT DC + District Fray
    • Browse Events
    • DC Polo Society Summer Sundays 5.9
    • National Cannabis Festival’s Dazed & Amused Drive-In Party
    • Vinyl + Vinyasa 4.30
  • Fraylife+

Fraylife+
Play Free This Fall: Here’s How to Score Big with a Fraylife+ Membership
Pickleball is Heating Up at #Fraylife Rec at Bridge District
A Magical World Leaps to Life On Stage in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Big Fun for the Little Ones: Cafritz Foundation Children’s Event Series
Magic in the Woods: Wolf Trap’s Hidden Treasure Delights Families
Your Guide to the 2025 DC JazzFest
Home » Articles » Culture » Art All Night Invites D.C. Residents to Explore Community

Culture

Fire dancer at Art All Night. Photo courtesy of Department of Small and Local Business Development.

Art All Night Invites D.C. Residents to Explore Community

Share:

September 21, 2022 @ 12:00pm | Keith Loria

Art All Night is back and bigger than ever, with 22 main streets in D.C. taking part in the annual overnight arts festival.

Presented by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, the two-night event kicks off at 7 p.m. on September 23 and ends at 3 a.m. on September 25. The festival encourages residents to get outside and enjoy the D.C. they know and love, while allowing for new discoveries in every ward.

The genesis of Art All Night dates back to 2011, when the Department of Small and Local Business Development (DSLBD) searched for a way to support and elevate local artists who fuel and drive entertainment, business and community throughout the District. The Department found its muse in Paris’ Nuit Blanche.

Kristi Whitfield, director of DSLBD, says while the event’s focus is art and entertainment, it still showcases neighborhood’s individuality and the small businesses within them. Art All Night creates new revenue and economic streams for small businesses around activation sites by pushing residents to explore and rediscover the city.

“This year, we are super excited because we have grown from seven main streets to 22, as well as numerous D.C. public libraries, at least two schools and other venues across the city,” Whitfield says. “This is a celebration of art and community and culture and commerce, and every ward is touched in some way.”

Attendees will be exposed to great music, art, spoken word, extemporaneous art and the chance to meet up with other D.C. residents and get back to a pre-pandemic mindset of community gatherings.

“The magic of Art All Night is that all these locations offer unique experiences, so what you see on 8th Street will be different than what you see at Eastern Market,” Whitfield says. “It gives every neighborhood an opportunity to shine in its own interesting way.”

For instance, in Mount Pleasant, a screening of “La Manplesa: An Uprising Remembered,” a film about the 1991 Mount Pleasant protests will take place at 7 p.m. The area will also offer live art demonstrations, corn grinding and crafts, and a view of the Harmonica Museum.

In Georgetown, a performance by the Duke Ellington School of the Arts Radical Elite Show Band will take place at 6 p.m. in the front of the library, while Anna Banana Arts and Crafts will give children an opportunity to explore the art of Mira Hecht through a guided art project. The African Union will have art on display from artists such as Hamid Kashmar, Dawit Tesfamariam and Almigdad Aldikhaiiry at 1640 Wisconsin Avenue.

Fitness Factory at 5926 Georgia Avenue will host free spin classes with a live DJ in the Upper Georgia Avenue neighborhood, and the area will also have a live mural painting by local artist Leonina Arismendi.

On 8th Street, there will be a silent disco; at Dupont Circle, there will be fire dancers; in Congress Heights, there will be go-go bands and a midnight brunch. Other events include a wing eating contest, wine tasting, chalk drawings, open gallery walks and a parade.

“It’s a cacophony of noises that build into this glorious sympathy,” Whitfield says. “Art All Night is the coolest party that people don’t know the government is putting on for them. It’s a moment of artistic collaboration that blossoms into something unexpected.”

One noticeable change this year is DSLBD’s Art All Night website­, which has been completely overhauled for a more interactive experience for visitors. The site will include up-to-date information during the event and offer an interactive map where visitors can find central locations for all 22 main streets.

“For the corridors where these events are happening, it’s usually the best sales night they will have for the year,” Whitfield says. “This is a chance for people to support local businesses, to support the creative community and to see friends in the neighborhood. It’s a chance to be surprised and inspired and maybe find something you didn’t realize was available in your city.”

Art All Night: dcartallnight.org // @dcartallnight

Enjoy this piece? Consider becoming a member for access to our premium digital content. Support local journalism and start your membership today.

Keith Loria

A theatre buff and huge music fan, Keith Loria is a D.C.-based award-winning journalist who has been writing about the arts for more than 20 years. He started his career with the Associated Press and has written for Soap Opera Digest, Playbill and Music Review. He looks forward to 2021 and the theaters reopening! He’s the proud father of two daughters, who often accompany him on his theater outings. Visit his website at keithloria.contently.com.

Share with friends

Share:

Related Articles

Culture

Ben Folds “Declassifies” Music with Kennedy Center Series

In 2017, the Kennedy Center announced Ben Folds would join the National Symphony Orchestra as its first-ever artistic advisor. Never one to conform to an ascribed role in the music world, this appointment has seen Folds shape the NSO’s programming, most notably in the form of his Declassified series. On Friday nights at the Kennedy Center, Folds, the NSO and a number of multi-talented, multi-genre artists (think everyone from Sara Bareilles to Kishi Bashi) reinvent and reimagine pop music in the context of the orchestra. Sound pretentious? It’s not. Folds’ mission is to understand the intricate processes that weave a common thread between pop and orchestral movements… Read more »

Read More
Culture

Our Hands Build the Future: “Renewal 2121” at ARTECHOUSE

Though ARTECHOUSE curators couldn’t have known this while preparing their “Renewal 2121” exhibit, which would present a futuristic rendition of cherry blossoms in the city 100 years from now, this year D.C.’s cherry blossoms bloomed earlier than ever before. While we welcome the spectrum of pink flowers all over the city, it’s hard not to feel that existential dread of a world that is too warm, too fast. “It made sense to take [the idea of] our connection to the natural world one step further: into consideration of the consequences of our actions on the environment,” says ARTECHOUSE’s founder and… Read more »

Read More
Habibis
Culture

Comedian Rola Z Is Inviting You to Party With Her Habibis

We spoke with Rola about what to expect at her upcoming Habibis In The City music and comedy show on June 2.

Read More
Jay Coleman
Culture

Artist Jay Coleman’s Dog Is Key to His Style

Painter, muralist and sculptor, Jay Coleman, lends his insight on how D.C.’s cultural impact translates to our city’s style. He also explains what outfit components are essential to his aesthetic. District Fray: What D.C. style means to you  Jay Coleman: D.C. style is indicative of the colorful, cosmopolitan and historical foundation of our glorious city. We live in the capital of the world, where decisions are made that have an immediate global impact. The Gucci loafers on the Senate floor and the New Balance 900 series of the streets carry the same cultural weight. D.C. style is exclusivity personified. We… Read more »

Read More
Black cowboy
Culture

The Wild Wild Forgotten West: “Black Cowboy” Sheds Light on a Lost Fact

“If history is telling me 25% of cowboys were Black then the story arc in movies is make-believe.”

Read More
A person sits on a bench, looking at paintings in a museum.
Culture

The Average Person’s Guide to Approaching Museum Art

“I find a lot of people try to figure out what the meaning is,” Devilbiss says. “Ultimately it’s about the feeling that you personally are getting from the artwork, not necessarily what the artist meant to say.”

Read More
Culture

Fade to Black: Coronavirus Closures Force Local Theaters to Rethink Their Futures

The paint was still drying on the set of Signature Theatre’s world premier production Camille Claudel. The five members of Happenstance Theatre Company were packing for New York City where they were scheduled to make their off-Broadway debut. And the 170 teens in Young Artists of America at Strathmore (YAA)’s Beauty and the Beast were days away from the first dress rehearsal of a production that composer Alan Menken was planning to attend. These are just a few of the 70 shows that came to an abrupt halt in the D.C. region as the coronavirus put America and all of… Read more »

Read More
Culture

The REACH’s Opening Festival

The inside spaces of the Kennedy Center’s The REACH are spacious and cavernous, like an underground college building with rooms ripe for seminars, classes, performances, films and whatever other kind of programming the Center offers, which is to say almost anything. The outside buildings are equally stunning, standing tall not in an intimidation, but a reassurance. The facility had yet to open when we walked through the grounds in mid-July, but it was easy to close your eyes and imagine a swath of people congregating in one of the spacious fields for a concert or a movie projected directly on… Read more »

Read More
<h3>No Articles</h3>

Sorry. No data so far.

COMPANY
About United Fray Team Hiring: Join Our Team!
GET INVOLVED
Become A Member Corporate Wellness Contact: Media Pitches + Advertising Inquiries
EXPLORE
Eat Drink Music Culture Life Play Events Calendar
OUR CITIES
Washington D.C. Jacksonville Phoenix United Fray
Sign Up

Get the best of D.C. delivered to your inbox with one of our weekly newsletters.

Sign Up

© 2025 District Fray – Making Fun Possible.