Deep Ellum News
Longtime annual Deep Ellum Arts Festival pulls the plug after 28 years
Deep Ellum Arts Festival 2014.
An annual arts tradition in Deep Ellum is calling it quits: The Deep Ellum Arts Festival, which has been a staple of Dallas' spring festival circuit for 28 years, will not return.
According to a statement on its website from founder and owner Stephen Millard, the festival did not have enough money to continue.
"The Festival has had a great run, but with the current economic conditions, along with security concerns affecting all major public events, producing a free-to-attend art and music festival in Deep Ellum has become too costly and arduous to continue," he says. "We have always been dependent on support from the local community, national sponsors and in-kind media, and I have become unable to move forward at this time without taking on unjustifiable personal financial and liability risks. Under these circumstances, the Festival has simply and sadly become unsustainable."
The festival faltered during the pandemic getting pushed back three times. The 2020 rendition was initially postponed from April to September, then canceled entirely.
Created in 1994, the Deep Ellum Arts Festival was a free community event featuring artists from across the U.S. displaying and selling original paintings, sculptures, photography, jewelry, woodworking, ceramics, mixed media, leatherworks, and fashion.
It also featured a stage with bands, singer/songwriters, and musical artists representing different genres.
Some local artists and performers said they felt it favored out-of-towners over locals, and have created a Facebook page to brainstorm a replacement.
