The events in and around Fort Worth this weekend are literally and figuratively all over the map. You can enjoy movies, music, and more in Denton; taste some of the best food the area has to offer in Dallas; laugh your head off in Arlington; or check out Fort Worth's highly anticipated annual arts and music festival.
Below are the best options for your precious free time Thursday through Sunday. Don't like what you see? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.
Thursday, April 20
2017 Main St. Fort Worth Arts Festival
Festival season in Fort Worth begins with the Main St. Fort Worth Arts Festival, which features the finest in art, music, food, and culture. Spanning more than 27 city blocks in downtown Fort Worth through Sunday, the festival spotlights 213 artists, showcases hundreds of performers across four stages, features authentic Texas cuisine, and provides arts-and-crafts activities the whole family can enjoy.
2017 Thin Line Festival
Thin Line is a film, music, and photography festival held at multiple venues in and around Denton, including Campus Theatre, Dan's Silverleaf, Rubber Gloves Studio, and UNT on the Square. The festival's program includes high-quality documentary films, world-class music, and a diverse selection of photography. The festival continues through Sunday.
CultureMap Tastemaker Awards
The CultureMap Tastemaker Awards are an annual celebration of talent in Dallas-Fort Worth's restaurant and bar community, as selected by their peers. Our mission is to shine a spotlight on the people making the city's restaurant scene special and honor their innovation, energy, and creativity. The swanky tasting event and awards ceremony, emceed by Tim Love, takes place at Sixty Five Hundred, where we celebrate the nominees and unveil the winners.
Friday, April 21
Magnolia at the Modern presents Personal Shopper
Kristen Stewart stars in this ghost story set amid the fashion underworld of Paris. Director Olivier Assayas, who also directed Stewart in the critically lauded Clouds of Sil Maria, shared the Cannes 2016 Best Director Award for this film. The film, which is in French, Swedish, and English with English subtitles, plays at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth six times through Sunday.
Casa Mañana presents Disney’s The Little Mermaid
Based on the classic animated Disney film The Little Mermaid, this fishy fable captures audience's hearts with unforgettable songs like “Under the Sea,” “Kiss the Girl,” and “Part of Your World.” When mermaid Princess Ariel longs for a life out of the water, she bargains with the evil sea witch, Ursula, to trade her fins for legs. But the bargain is not what it seems, and Ariel needs the help of her friends to restore order under the sea. The musical will run through May 14 at Casa Mañana Theatre.
Improv Arlington presents Jay Pharoah
During his tenure on Saturday Night Live, Jay Pharoah proved himself to be one of the show's most talented and popular cast members, mostly thanks to his uncanny impressions of Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Stephen A. Smith, Kanye West, and Chris Tucker. He was unceremoniously fired from the show prior to this season, but their loss is our gain as he performs four times at Improv Arlington on Friday and Saturday.
Saturday, April 22
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth 125th Anniversary Charter Day
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth is the oldest art museum in Texas and one of the oldest museums in the western United States. The Modern was officially chartered on April 25, 1892, as the Fort Worth Public Library and Art Gallery, but the name and mission have evolved over the years. To celebrate charter day, the museum is offering free admission to the galleries, complimentary sketchbooks for children, and a docent-led public tour at 2 pm.
F.A.M Fest 2017
The goal of F.A.M Fest, taking place at Shipping & Receiving, is to bring together notable musicians, contemporary artists, food trucks, nonprofit organizations, and local culinary rock stars to create a block party atmosphere. Performers include Astronautalis, Francine Thirteen, Rat Rios, Northern National, Uptown Goths, Black Taffy, 88 Killa, Alsace Carcione, G.O.A.T (Grades Of Absolute Truth), xBValentine, Rebel Planet, and Tidals.
Stage West Theatre presents New Play Festival 2017
Stage West Theatre presents the winners of the 10th annual Southwest Playwriting Competition as part of its annual New Play Festival. Parched follows a young dancer and a minuteman who are thrust together to face the ultimate test of survival as they battle the landscape, themselves, each other, and nature. In Like a Billion Likes, Misty Riggs is a nobody who gets a vague notion that she should try to stand out somehow before it’s too late. But Misty’s maneuver only results in making her more of an outsider, leading her to become even more desperate.
2017 Fort Worth Opera Festival
The annual Fort Worth Opera Festival kicks off on Saturday at Bass Performance Hall with Carmen, Bizet’s operatic tour de force that is a classic tale of love, lust, jealousy, and vengeful crimes of passion. On Sunday at McDavid Studio, it's followed by Voir Dire, an opera adapted from various court cases witnessed by librettist Jason Zenka during his time as a crime reporter. The opera gives audiences an insider’s look into the fascinating, hilarious, and often insanely bizarre world of legal drama. Carmen plays three times through May 5, while Voir Dire plays six times through May 6.
Personal Shopper screens six times April 21-23 at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
