Durango Autumn Arts Festival 2026

The Durango Autumn Arts Festival (DAAF) is celebrating 32 years of presenting fine arts and crafts by makers from around the country while taking place amid the fall colors of historic Durango, Colorado, along East Second Avenue.

The DAAF is a fundraising event of the Durango Arts Center (DAC) —the region’s premier nonprofit arts organization serving Durango and the Four Corners. DAAF is ranked among the top arts festivals in the country and welcomes an estimated 7,000–8,000 visitors annually.

Durango is a world famous destination. Visitors and local residents seek out the DAAF each September. Shoppers drive in from surrounding counties and states, tourists take time out of their packed schedule to stroll through the festival, and the arts community enthusiastically embraces the DAAF.

AMENITIES: The Durango Autumn Arts Festival is a fine art and fine craft festival known for exceptional artist care, generous hospitality areas, and friendly crowds. Amenities include booth sitters, indoor restrooms, access to drinking water, and more.

 

ADVERTISING:The Durango Arts Center produces a full color festival Guide that includes a map with booth locations and an exhibitor list as well as a photo gallery of selected exhibitors' work, which is distributed during the festival.  The Festival Brochure is available at sponsor locations and visitor centers, the DAC ,as well as at the festival site. The festival is widely publicized on local radio stations, online directories and calendars,  area  newspapers, and magazines.

Event Judges (not the show jurors) will select award winners based on anonymous booth visits on Saturday morning. Awards will be announced Saturday afternoon at the Durango Arts Center booth and listed on the Durango Arts Center website.

• Best of Show – Fine Art: $500 cash award, automatic acceptance and waived application fee for 2027, mention in 2027 Festival Brochure

• Best of Show – Fine Craft: $500 cash award, automatic acceptance and waived application fee for 2027, mention in 2027 Festival Brochure

• Best of Show – Best Booth: Automatic acceptance and waived application fee for 2027, mention in Festival Brochure

• People’s Choice Award: Mention in 2027 Festival Brochure

• Good Vibes Award: Mention in 2027 Festival Brochure

ELIGIBILITY: Participation is limited. One artist/craftsperson per booth, unless more than one artist/craftsperson is collaborating on work. All work submitted must be original fine art or fine craft in concept and design, and executed by the exhibitor present at the festival. Work displayed at the festival must be of the same type, quality, and materials as depicted in the images submitted for jurying. All reproductions must be signed and numbered, except for note cards. See Rules/Regulations for additional details.

 

 

APPLICATION FEE: A non-refundable application fee of $50 is due for each category entered; i.e., fiber is $50 and jewelry is $50 totaling a $100 application fee. No application will be considered without application fee payment.

 

JURORS: Five jurors are selected based on a high level of involvement in their field, knowledge of fine art and fine craft, and their professional reputations and rotate out every two years, on a staggered schedule

The acceptance jurying is based on the following criteria:

• Originality of execution, design and concept.
• Quality of workmanship.
• Predominance of Handcrafted components dominate the final piece.
• Starting materials are significantly altered and enhanced by the craftsperson.
• Professional booth display.

*** UPDATED DEADLINES

• APPLICATION DEADLINE: May 1st, 2026 
• JURY PROCESS: May 4th - 8th, 2026
• ARTIST INVITATIONS SENT: May 15th, 2026
• ARTISTS ACCEPT/DECLINE OUR INVITATION: June 30th, 2026
• ARTISTS' BOOTH FEES DUE BY:  June 30th, 2026
• CANCELLATION DEADLINE TO RECEIVE REFUND:  July 31st, 2026

 

WAIT-LIST: All applicants will be scored using a numeric system. The top scoring applicants per art/craft category will be invited to participate. The next highest group of applicants will be placed on the wait list in ranked order and invited to participate IF/WHEN an invited artist/craftsperson withdraws their participation.

SALES TAX: All exhibitors are responsible for purchasing the proper state and local business licenses and collecting & remitting sales tax. The City of Durango enforces this. Any artist failing to comply will not be able to participate in DAAF in the future. Forms are available online at www.durangogov.org and www.colorado.gov.

1. All work exhibited must be original designs, concepts and execution. Entries are judged by a select group of jurors with diverse backgrounds in art. The Durango Arts Center selects jurors based on their professional reputations, high level involvement in the arts and cultural field, and knowledge of fine art and fine craft.

 

2. The event judging is based on the following criteria:

• Originality of execution, design and concept.
• Quality of workmanship.
• Predominance of handcrafted components dominate the final piece.
• Starting materials are significantly altered and enhanced by the craftsperson.
• Professional booth display.   

3. The festival will NOT allow the following commercial items to be exhibited: mass produced jewelry; imported crafts; ceramics, metal or plaster casts from molds not made by the artist; clothing either not made or embellished by the artist; and prints that are not signed and numbered by the artist. No Seconds or Buy/Sell. We do not accept body care products, culinary or botanical arts.

 

4. The Durango Arts Center will determine the final interpretation of commercial status.

 

5. Artists will display items representative of the work depicted in the digital images submitted in the category they have been accepted. Artists may exhibit only work that is stated in their application and submitted in their images. Any discrepancy will result in the Durango Arts Center exercising its right to remove artists in violation, and no refunds will be granted.

 

6. Booth assignments are organized according to media distributed evenly through the Festival. Every effort is made to accommodate exhibitors' booth location requests, though it is not always possible. 

 

7. Artists are responsible for tending their booths and must be present both days of the Festival. Festival hours are:

• Saturday, September 19th : 10 am - 5 pm
• Sunday, September 20th : 10 am - 5 pm

8. Each artist is responsible for possession of the proper licenses required by the city and state and collecting  and paying sales tax on each sale. Forms are available online at www.durangogov.org and www.colorado.gov.

 

9. The Durango Arts Center hires professional security services to monitor the festival site from 10 p.m. on Friday to 8 a.m Saturday AND 5 p.m Saturday to 8 a.m. on Sunday.  Though security is onsite, all booths should be completely closed and all objects removed from sight during Saturday night. The Durango Arts Center is not responsible for loss or damage to exhibitor booths or its contents.

 

10. Artists are required to bring their own freestanding display that will be weighted to withstand wind and rain. Under no circumstance can pegs or nails be driven into the paved street. We do not allow the walls of your tent to be your weights, you need weights at the bottom of all legs of your tent. Failure to comply will result in immediate tear down of your space without refund.  Artists must clean up their space at the end of the show and have their possessions removed from the street by 7 p.m on Sunday, September 20th.

 

11. Exhibitors desiring liability or property insurance must obtain such insurance at their own expense.

12. The Durango Autumn Arts Center, together with its volunteers, assume no risk and are not liable for any potential refunds requested by customers, any damage or destruction to property, nor for any personal injury which results either directly or indirectly from any cause outside the Festival’s control.

 

Booth Fees & Payment

Standard Booth on 2nd Ave - 10' x 10' - $400

Standard double booth on 2nd Ave - 10' x 20' - $750 (limited number available) **Corner booths only - see event map for locations

Booth fees are due in full by June 30th, 2026.  Booth invitations and payments are non-transferable and non-refundable after the cancellation deadline of July 31st, 2026

Booth Requirements & Display

• Booth set-up opens on Friday Evening at 6pm, Set up is from 6pm - 10pm per city ordinance.
• Artists may come as early as 7am on Saturday, September 19th to set up inside their booths. NO SET UP WILL OCCUR THIS MORNING THAT REQUIRES A VEHICLE FOR LOAD IN unless already authorized. ALL LOAD IN MUST OCCUR FRIDAY EVENING BETWEEN 6pm and 10pm. Once addmitted into the festival, you will recieve specific load in instructions based on your booth location. These may vary per artist.
• No electricity is available.
• Exhibitors are responsible for delivery, handling, set-up, removal of display and art work, and clean-up of display area by 7 p.m. on Sunday, September 20th, 2026.
• Exhibitors provide their own booths, including protection from sun, rain, and wind. Tents must be weighted on all four corners. Please be prepared: weather in the mountains can be unpredictable and winds can be gusty.
• Displays cannot go beyond marked guide lines per Fire Marshall's instructions.  This includes awnings, display tables, rugs, etc. Emergency vehicles will not stop to move your items in the event of an emergency nor will they wait for you to move them.  

Refund Policy:

The event is rain or shine. While we make every effort to accommodate our artists within reason, the policy is that no refunds are given with the exception of true medical emergencies. 7/31/2026 is the final date for requests for refunds.