Lite + Brite’s Guide to Austin Studio Tour 2026

We list hundreds (thousands?) of events over the course of the year, but Austin Studio Tour may be our favorite. If you do one thing this year, do this. 

AST is a dizzying collection of FREE events and art shows that take place over two weekends—this year, that’s 11am-5pm on November 14-15 + 21-22—at venues throughout the city. These venues include traditional art studios and galleries, but also ordinary people’s houses and yards, theaters, office buildings, parks, condemned buildings, and anyplace else you can think of. Here is an interactive map of all the official spaces. Artwork is for sale everywhere at a huge range of price points, and it doesn’t cost anything just to explore and admire.

This year, AST boasts 815 artists at 309 venues across the city. Accept that you will not see it all. We created this guide to help you focus your energies, but honestly you can’t go wrong (unless you stay home). Park somewhere, walk to every nearby stop, and see what you find. You are bound to be delighted. 

Here are some of the AST experiences we’re hoping to check out:

—A group of venues and promoters—including RichesArt, PietschHouse, Warren Records, Must Be Magic, and a bunch of other folks who we trust to do good events—are coming together to produce Local Frequencies, a block party-style music and art show, promising “multiple art galleries, free bevvies, a coffee vendor, live music, collective art making, and original art.”

—Almost Real Things is the arts group that runs the Austin Studio Tour, and they have a huge space with 30+ participating artists at their 2324 Studios. Bolm Studios and Hive Mind are also home to lots of artists and are great one-stop shops.

—One of last year’s AST highlights, Object Solutions, is back at dadaLab. Their newest “innovation” is Doomwell: “the only portable chasm for your everyday outcries.” If you’re looking to have an *experience*, you’ll want to go to this. Second weekend only. 

—Bolm Arts Collective is hosting the Barrio Futbol Project at Lustre Pearl East, “a multidisciplinary exhibition and community project exploring fútbol as a point of connection between art, culture, identity, and place,” including a futsal tournament, vendor market, and DJs. First weekend only.

—The Museum of Human Achievement is hosting In the Zone, “a series of artistic interpretations of gambling machines and games of chance. Each work in this exhibit/fake casino may be gambled on in some way using Human Dollars, a non-fiat currency specially designed for the show.”

—We go to Grackle House every year. It’s an artist’s backyard filled with seven local creators, cute animals to pet, live music, flash tattoos, and good vibes. One year they did an immersive installation in their bathroom which feels like the reason why people become homeowners. First weekend only (plus a Friday night opening party.)

—Big Blue House is another of our favorite artist’s residences, hosting half a dozen artists. Two ASTs ago we got a beautiful ceramic menorah here from Abby Rose Mandel.

—We’ll take any opportunity to visit Co-Lab Projects because it’s literally an art gallery in a culvert.

—Similarly, we’ll take any reason to go hang out in Kenny Dorham’s Backyard. It’s just a great community spot.

—Blackshear Elementary is Austin ISD’s first and only elementary school dedicated to the fine arts. They’ll host student art, music, improv, and dance, as well as their “one-of-a-kind Trashion (Fashion) Show, featuring wearable art made from repurposed materials.”

—_OFCOLOR will be bringing together “DJ sets, live performances, all-ages art activities, and a market of local vendors and makers” at Raasin in the Sun. Second weekend only. 

—The subject matter for The Pink Bow Project is bleak af but the installation itself looks really impressive. 

—The Color Condition is also an impressive-looking temporary installation!

—If you’re interested in Burning Man community and culture, you can head up to Catalyst Collective to check out some of the projects that Austin burners have created and brought to the Playa.

—The Millennium is hosting a vendor market, art gallery, and magazine launch celebrating local Filipino makers. “The entire space reimagines a traditional sari-sari store through the TAYO NA lens, an artist-led immersive world rooted in kapwa (shared identity) and bayanihan (collective care).”

—Bring Back the Weird is making art out of trash and teaching you how to do the same.

—We’ve never been to And&And, but they describe “a lounge-like video art installation” in a repurposed historic Black church, plus snacks and interactive activities. 

—We’ve never been to La Petite Provence, either, but this artist’s home was apparently “once celebrated on the Austin Weird Homes Tour as the ‘Art Oasis’,” and that is all we need to know.

—What happens at Vessels Gallery, a “DIY, BYOB, off-the-radar anti-venue venue” with zero Instagram posts? Is this where Leila finally gets kidnapped in her self-abnegating pursuit of site-specific art? Let’s find out!

—We went to the Museum of Collectibles + Curiosities last AST, and it’s a charming testament to one artist’s collection (and to the devotion of those who knew and loved her).

Those are just some spaces that we’ve liked in the past or that have caught our eye this year, but know that there are countless others that could be every bit as good. Go click around the studio tour map—or just start walking—and see what you find. And if you come across anything great, tell us about it, and we’ll be sure to spread the word (or at least to check it out for ourselves).