Dec 24, 2012 —
When you say the words “arts festival,” a number of things can come to mind. After all, art – much like beauty – is in the eye of the beholder, which certainly suggests the world’s plethora of major arts festivals aren’t going to be for everyone.
Luckily, there are vastly different types of arts festivals held throughout the year, so finding one that suits your tastes shouldn’t be difficult.
There’s the vibrant mixture of live music, dance, water races, and street arts that line the River Thames in London for the Thames Festival.
There’s the summer and winter sessions of the Tollwood Festival in Munich, full of international musicians, theater troupes, and circus-style performances.
And of course there’s the dreamy madness of Burning Man in a lonely patch of Nevada dessert in the US, where tens of thousands of participants gather to create a crazy amalgamation of sculpture, architecture, ornate vehicles, and almost every other manner of self-expression imaginable.
A full list of every arts festival in the world would probably be as thick as a book. So get reading!
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Arts Festival / Holiday Event
Every year in December
The First Night Festival of the Arts is a cultural celebration held on New Year’s Eve of each year in downtown Boston. The city welcomes in the New Year by showcasing thousands of artist’s works throughout the downtown area, featured in dozens of indoor and outdoor locations, accompanied by hundreds of performances and live music shows.
The
Boston
Throughout the city
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Arts Festival / Fair / Carnival
Every year in January
For five days in January, art buffs and culture hounds from all across the UK flock to the London Art Fair. Since 1989, over one hundred art galleries from around the world have showcased modern and contemporary British art from over 1,000 unique artists. Held each year at the Business Design Center in London, the London Art Fair attracts a
London
Business Design Centre
52 Upper Street
London N1 0QH
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Arts Festival / Concert / DJ Event / Music Festival
Every year in April
A massive music festival that takes over the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival attracts major names across a wide range of musical genres, as well as huge crowds that more than double Indio’s normal population of 75,000 residents.
Now held in two installments – typically during the second and
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Arts Festival / Food & Drink Event / Holiday Event / Music Festival / Shopping Event
Every year in November/December
A large tented spectacle that offers an exciting mix of international musicians, theater troupes, circus-style performances, and more, the Tollwood: Winterfestival is a wonderful annual Munich event that’s also largely free-to-attend.
Taking place along the wide open space of Theresienwiese – which also serves as the official grounds for Munich’s
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Arts Festival / Dance Performance / Film Festival / Music Festival / Performing Arts
Every year from September-December
The Paris Autumn Festival is an international contemporary arts festival held annually in Paris, France.
The festival, which first began in 1972, runs from September to December and features film, photography, dance, opera, theater, and musical performances. The goal of the Paris Autumn Festival is to expose France to new acts and cultures and to
Paris
Throughout the city
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Arts Festival / Music Festival
Every year at the end of August
Itching for some self-realization with a side of communal epiphany and enlightenment? Could you use some you time with the omnipresent comfort of a collective struggle? Or do you simply want to go to a remote town with zero cellphone service for a week?
Burning Man, a week-long annual festival held in Black Rock Desert, Nevada since 1986,
San Francisco
Black Rock City, NV 89412
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Arts Festival / Party
Every year in February/March
Twelve solid days of costumed chaos awaits during the Carnival of Venice, an annual event that combines the proper traditions of baroque dress with the inherent nuttiness of Brazil’s own Carnival celebrations.
As with other Carnival festivities that take place all over the world, the Carnival of Venice (Carnevale di Venezia) begins two Fridays
Venice
Throughout the city
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Arts Festival / Conference / Convention / Music Festival
Every year in November
M!RA Festival is one of the biggest independent music and visual arts festivals in the world. Celebrating the marriage of music with visual spectacles on a Saturday in November, M!RA celebrates and promotes cross-medium collaborations between great experimental musicians and innovative visual artists. The M!RA Festival is held each year at the
Barcelona
Fabra i Coats
Carrer de San Adrià, 20
08030 Barcelona, Spain
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Arts Festival / Photography Exhibit
Every other year in November
The European Month of Photography is a photography festival that occurs every two years in November. Berlin is one of seven major world cities that participate in the festival. Since its beginning in 1980, the European Month of Photography has featured discounted exhibitions in museums and galleries throughout Berlin like the Deutsche Guggenheim
Berlin
Throughout the city
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Arts Festival / Dance Festival
Every year from September-January
Hosted by the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Next Wave Festival has been an annual event since the early 1980s, and presents several weeks of contemporary performance, artist talks, storytelling, visual art, and film.
Normally kicking off during the first week in September and running into January, all of the Next Wave Festival shows are
