SLO County Arts is thrilled to announce that registration is now open for local businesses to become venues for the 2025 season of Art After Dark, San Luis Obispo County’s celebrated monthly art and culture walk. The first Art After Dark of 2025 takes place on February 7th in Downtown San Luis Obispo.
This special kickoff event is packed with exciting new activations, alongside the traditional walking tour that the community knows and loves. This special Art After Dark, titled “Love in the Making: A Love Letter to SLO,” promises to be an unforgettable evening of creativity, connection, and community. In addition to
showcasing art in venues across Downtown San Luis Obispo and beyond, attendees will enjoy unique experiences, including:
● “Love in Bloom” Social Hour at Region Event Center, the primary venue for the evening. This gathering will feature live jazz music performed by local trio Paper Menu (@papermenu), a featured visual artist, alongside wine from High Camp Wines available for purchase, providing attendees with a perfect setting to mingle and connect through creativity and the arts.
● “Portraits of Love” Portrait-Drawing-Speed-Dating, also hosted at the Region Event Center, participants will take turns sketching quick portraits of each other as a creative way to connect.
● “Wall of Love” An Interactive Community Art Piece, located at Region Event Center where attendees contribute their words, drawings, and reections to a collective love letter to San Luis Obispo.
● “Love in Verse” Interactive Poetry Readings at Linnaea’s Café, combining live poetry performances curated by Poet Laureate, Caleb Nichols, with opportunities for the audience to create their own verses and read their original poetry before an audience.
● A special announcement from the SLO Film Center, unveiling exciting new promotion available exclusively to Art After Dark attendees.
If you are a business leader or interested artist, learn more about participating in Art After Dark during the Orientation Mixer at SLO Museum of Art on January 29 from 5:30-7 p.m. This evening mixer is a fantastic opportunity for businesses and artists to connect and explore how to make the 2025 season a success.
There is still time for businesses to register as an Art After Dark venue. This year, businesses have even more reason to sign up early and annually—with a discounted annual fee of $200, which includes 2 months free. This year the SLO County Arts Council is also providing businesses with exclusive access to the new Art After Dark Artist Directory. Use the directory to browse the proles of local visual, literary, and performing artists who are interested in being featured during Art After Dark. Artists can join the Art After Dark Directory for free by filling out the short form linked at slocountyarts.org/art-after-dark.