The 54th Annual Carbondale Mountain Fair poster design contest is now open! Our theme this year is “LET'S DANCE! ¡BAILEMOS!”, an inclusive invitation to celebrate our vibrant community's creativity, connection, and expression.

Entries are due April 1, 2025.

It’s time to start looking forward to the best extravaganza of the spring! The teams have been busy creating, auditioning, and rehearsing. This year’s theme is Camera Obscura, inspired by film noir styling and storytelling. It touches on voyeurism, secrets, dreams, and ultimately the mystery of life.

Carbondale Arts members get special access to early bird tickets (with a $15 discount!) beginning January 29 at noon. Public sales and volunteer sign ups go live February 5 at noon. Set an alarm!

Art vendor applications for the 54th Mountain Fair (July 25-27, 2025) are now open! We continually curate the best artisans for our fair, drawing visitors from all over Colorado and beyond, 2024 visitations totaled more than 20,000.

Applications are due March 14, 2025.

Do you have an idea for an art exhibition? We’d love to hear more about it! Carbondale Arts is always looking for fresh inspiration and new artists.

We host art exhibitions featuring local and regional artists at The Launchpad in our award-winning gallery. The majority of our shows run from 4-5 weeks at a time and are invitational, juried, or open call. Exhibitions in the Carbondale Arts Gallery are planned a year in advance.

Proposal applications for 2026 are due by May 1, 2025.

Join us in celebrating the abundant pool of artistic talent in the valley! The Valley Visual Art Show (VVAS) is one of the longest-standing community art shows, featuring 60+ local artists creating in a wide variety of medium and aesthetic.

The opening reception will be Friday, January 17 from 5:00-7:00pm. VVAS will be on display through February 20.

Bundle up and explore the heart of Bonedale during the Winter Bonanza!  Wander our vibrant Creative District throughout the day– where art, culture, and winter magic come together with local creativity and cozy charm.

Saturday, December 21
Click here for details

It’s imperative to take a minute every now and then to zoom out. We’re all so focused on the day to day that we sometimes forget the bigger picture. That’s why we’ve been creating the Impact Report the past couple of years. It gives us an opportunity to view the work we do as pieces of a whole.

The best artisan holiday market in the Roaring Fork Valley is now open through Christmas Eve. Each year Carbondale Arts transforms the gallery into a 5-week long hoiday market featuring 65 local and regional creators and small businesses.

Open Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm
Sundays (December only) 11am-4pm
*with additional holiday hours and activations

The sculptures have been installed! We’re delighted to share the work of three local sculptors; Leah Aegerter, Chris Erickson, and Brad Reed Nelson to complement five murals that were painted in the spring at the Gateway Public Art Project at the entrance to Carbondale.

Open to youth 14-19, the Field\Work, is an opportunity to explore and make work related to place and identity. Participants will explore Carbondale and their relationship to it through making art with local artists.

Applications are open through December 6th

Carbondale Arts presents the 46th Annual Valley Visual Art Show, opening Friday, January 17, 2025 and will be on exhibition afterwards each weekday (10am-5pm) at our gallery space located inside The Launchpad (76 S 4th Street) through February 20, 2025.

Entry forms are now open with a submission deadline of December 2, 2024.

Join us for November’s First Friday, celebrating Día de los Muertos, the largest valley-wide honoring of this holiday. Contribute your mementos to the community ofrenda!

There will be performances and face-painting, a community procession and performances by Aspen Santa Fe Ballet Folklórico, Mezcla Socials Dance, Roaring Fork Youth Orchestra and more, not to be missed!

Now accepting designer applications for the 2025 Fashion Show. The submission deadline is December 4, 2024. Clothing must be sustainably created using primarily (75%) organic or sustainably tagged fabrics, up-cycled and/or recycled materials and made by designer or in a fair trade and/or locally-sourced scenario.

Each year the gallery space transforms into a shop filled with artisan goods created by local and regional artists from all over the Roaring Fork Valley and the state of Colorado. Goods typically include handmade candles and cards, jewelry and chocolates, ceramics and soaps, and more! 

Applications are now open with a submission deadline of September 30.

It would take a really long time to thank everyone in Carbondale who supported Mountain Fair in some way. But believe that we felt and honored your energetic contributions, it’s in the magic that makes this event each year. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Shout out for the all hardworking supervisors and super crew volunteers, as well as businesses that took care of us and all these folks leading up to, and during the Fair. Our appreciation runs deep!

We're delighted to share the winning design for the 53rd Mountain Fair (happening July 26-28, 2024), created by local artist Kirsten Hix. Congrats Kirsten!⁠

Since 2019 she has completed four murals at Sunlight Mountain. She won the Basalt Public Arts Commission Mural Contest in 2023 and was selected to create a mural at the Basalt Pool, which was completed in May of 2024.

The first wave of art installation for the Gateway Public Art Project begins later this week. Five Colorado muralists will be painting over the course of the next two weeks on site at the new Central Self Storage on Highway 133.  Later this year, sculptures will be installed by three Roaring Fork Valley artists.

Carbondale Arts is elated to continue offering the Artist Fellowship Program again in 2024. This fellowship can help an artist develop a vision, buy supplies, or rent rehearsal/studio space; it can help with residency/workshop fees or for marketing purposes. The uses are limitless, but the requests should be specific.

Thanks to the Wolfpack Foundation and Carbondale Arts supporters we are able to offer $8000 in funding this year - four successful applicants will be awarded $2000. Applications are due June 3, learn more here.

Mountain Fair is accepting applications for Oasis Activity Vendors as well as the Valley Artists Booth. The Oasis will be moving onto Main Street and expanding into a family block party due to the renovation of the Carbondale pool. Mountain Fair is seeking partners such as schools, arts programs, and youth organizations to get involved and set up their own family-friendly activity tent or area. The Valley Artists Booth is a great way to display and sell artwork in a cooperative and inexpensive way, open to current (or new!) Carbondale Arts members residing within an “816” area code. Both applications are due May 15.

The 53rd Annual Carbondale Mountain Fair poster design contest is now open and our theme this year is “This Must Be The Place: feet on the ground, head in the sky”! Yes, it's a shameless nod to the song by the Talking Heads, but it's also a celebration of that ineffable feeling that has settled over so many of us who live here that we've found our home, our community, and nestled up under mighty Mt. Sopris! Submissions due April 1, read more for details.