Duluth Art Institute

It is the mission of the Duluth Art Institute to enrich daily life with dynamic, innovative visual 
arts programming that upholds excellence and promotes inclusive community participation. 

We aim to bring art to, and inspire art in, everyone. 

Let's Do More Art!

With your help, we've been at work bringing to life more accessible art education, inclusive arts engagement, and immersive art exhibitions. To deliver even more art opportunities in 2024, we need your support. Please consider a $20 donation to the DAI today.

So, what has 2023 looked like at the DAI?

- Educating: 11 Events, 54 Classes, and 9 Summer Camps
- Creating Space: 43 Lincoln Park Studio Participants
- Being Open Daily: Estimated 500+ Gallery Visitors Monthly
- Gathering: 1425 Program & Event Participants
- Thought Provoking: 13 Unique Learning Opportunities
- Having Variety: 17 Types of Media Represented in the DAI Galleries
- Participatory Art: 5 Public Artmaking Projects
- Cultivating Future Artists: 70 Hours of Art Lessons for 7 Headstart Classrooms
- Absent Narratives: 5 Exhibitions Telling Excluded Stories

With your support, we can pack our schedules with even more art in 2024!

How the DAI supports art in your everyday:

Free ArtDAI
No-cost, family-friendly arts & crafts projects hosted at our Lincoln Park Building.

Free ArtDAI participants learning how to create paper flowers

Birkenstein Art Movement 
Free, year-long experience for seventh graders to develop leadership skills using art practices. Youth learn how to make a change in the community and the power of the creative process. 

BAM participants creating a collaborative mural depicting their experience of their community and neighborhood

Gallery Exhibitions
Our galleries in the St. Louis County Depot building are FREE to the public & open every day from 10 AM to 5 PM. Our exhibition schedule brings contemporary artists & underrepresented narratives to Duluth.

Artist Sharon Dawson in the Morrison Gallery after installing her exhibition, Above  Below  Within

Art Education
Our Lincoln Park building hosts a full schedule of open studio groups, workshops, youth camps, and classes for all ages. We are committed to paying working artists to share their expertise through our programming. Education scholarships become available based on funding. 

Instructor Matt Kania teaching Oil Painting from a Photograph

Artist Resources & Support
Within our walls, you will find a clay studio, print studio, photography studio, large-format scanner, and a collection of supplies and tools for artists. On our website, we host artist resources and directories like the BIPOC artists page, LGBTQ+ artists page, and Art in Bloom, which feature local artists and their art as giftable items. We also send out monthly Artist Opportunities newsletters to artist members.

Image Credit: Sam Zimmerman, "An Elder's Vision," acrylic, 2020

Your donation makes it possible to maintain and expand each of these aspects as Duluth's premier visual arts organization. Thank you for considering us this Give to the Max day and beyond.