2026 Festival Update

2026 Festival Update

The Eagan Art Festival is on pause for 2026

We have celebrated creativity, craft, and community together for 31 years. Now, we are taking an intentional pause. A brief rest before we return.

We are focusing our energy on strengthening the Dakota Center for the Arts and deepening our work across Dakota County. We want to ensure that when we return, the festival serves our neighbors even more deeply. Because this work matters.

To the artists, vendors, sponsors, and neighbors who have shaped this legacy—thank you. Your presence has made this festival something worth protecting. Something worth growing.

We will be back in 2027 with renewed energy and a deeper commitment to the power of the arts. This is a pause, not a goodbye. We look forward to gathering with you again.

Save the date:

Eagan Art Festival returns in 2027 on June 19-20.

Questions?Contact Dakota Center for Arts.

More about the Eagan Art Festival 
Who We Are

Minnesota's oldest arts nonprofit — serving the community since 1961

Art is created throughout Dakota County — in studios and classrooms, in home workshops and community spaces, in the hands of countless local makers. For more than 60 years, Dakota Center for the Arts has worked to recognize that creativity, celebrate it, and help it flourish.


As the oldest nonprofit arts organization in Minnesota, the Center has spent six decades supporting local artists and providing free art experiences for the residents of Dakota County and surrounding communities. It is a long and meaningful history — and the next chapter is now taking shape.

Our mission and vision

A thriving arts community is not built overnight. It is cultivated over time, with intention and care.

Our mission is to develop, promote, and encourage participation in and appreciation of the arts throughout Dakota County, MN, and beyond.

Our vision is a world where creativity thrives, and the arts unite and strengthen communities.

"Beyond the financial support (though incredibly important), there is also the added honor of being someone who is believed in. Every person needs a support team, and the Dakota Center for the Arts will forever be one to me. Receiving a scholarship like this shows to me exactly the incredible impact a community can make for someone, and I cannot wait to give back through leadership and service in the future. " - Kaiya (2025 Scholarship Recipient)

Congratulations to our

2026 Scholarship Recipients

Alexandra Swords: Eagan High School

Amaya Carter: School of Environmental Studies

The Dakota Center for the Arts / Terry B. Davis Scholarship, awarded through the Eagan Community Foundation, honors Terry B. Davis, a former Eagan Art Festival board president and dedicated community leader. A passionate arts advocate, Terry envisioned the growth of the arts in Eagan and worked tirelessly to make it a reality.

Community Calendar & Opportunities

The benefits of a strong arts ecosystem extend well beyond the studio or stage. Participation in the arts builds the kind of social connection that holds communities together. It expands how people learn, solve problems, and understand one another. It draws neighbors into shared spaces and gives them reasons to show up for one another. When the arts are healthy, the whole system grows more resilient, more connected, and more capable — and those gains reach far beyond the people making the work.

Community Page

If you are an arts org in Dakota County and you’d like us to share your events or opportunities, send us a message:

Send us your event

The artists of Dakota County, in their own words

Every artist has a story — where they come from, what they make, and why it matters. Those stories deserve to be told.
The Center is gathering and sharing the voices of Dakota County's creative community, one artist at a time. Some are just beginning. Some have spent decades perfecting a craft. Some work in quiet ways that few people ever see. All of them are part of what makes this region a vibrant place to live.
You can help tell these stories. Perhaps it's a neighbor with a kiln in the garage, a teacher who changed how you see the world, or your own work waiting to be shared.

Share an Artist Story

Help shape what's next

Some of the most meaningful work happens behind the scenes. For those who care about the creative life of Dakota County, there is a genuine place to contribute.


Volunteers help make everything possible. Whatever your skills, your time matters, and it will be put to good use.
No commitment is too small — only a willingness to help build something lasting.

Volunteer With Us

Be Part of the Story.

However you choose to take part, you help shape a more connected, more creative Dakota County for everyone who lives here.