Back on the canvas

Main St. Fort Worth Arts Festival unveils colorful return with modern twist after 2-year hiatus

The festival attracts 400,000 people downtown.

Photo courtesy of Main St. Fort Worth Arts Festival

Fort Worth's most cherished downtown festival is happily springing back from dark COVID times: Main St. Fort Worth Arts Festival is planning a grand return with a blockbuster lineup of artists, musicians, and food — all happening April 7-10.

It's the first time the outdoor arts festival, which annually attracts 400,000 people downtown, is being held since 2019 due to ... well, we all know. The 2022 edition marks its 35th year.

According to a March 29 release, this year's event will feature more than 200 jury-selected local, regional, and national visual artists; live music on four stages; authentic local cuisine, craft beer pavilions, and wine tastings; and a revamped family-friendly “Makers Zone” — across 18 square blocks throughout downtown.

And, in an exciting new development in this modern, "contactless" world, the festival is eliminating the use of old-fashioned and wasteful "coupons" and accepting credit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay at all food, beverage, and merchandise locations. Cash and credit cards can be used to purchase artwork.

Main St., produced by Downtown Fort Worth Initiatives, Inc. and presented by PNC Bank, is free and open to the public. (A "Friends of the Festival" pass, starting at $425, provides a VIP-level experience.)

“The original hope that Main St. would someday become a multi-faceted festival that would transform downtown Fort Worth into an outdoor gallery and concert stage has not only come to life but has exceeded what anyone thought was possible,” says Nina Petty, chairman of the Festivals and Events Committee for Downtown Fort Worth Initiatives, Inc. in the release.

Here's a closer look at what to expect, according to the organizers:

Art and artists
The centerpiece of the festival, this year's "outdoor gallery" will feature 212 juried artists selected from more than 1,000 applications to exhibit their work, organizers say. (That means only about one in seven who apply are accepted.) An estimated $4 million worth of art is expected to be sold across 15 artistic media categories, including sculpture, painting, photography, wood, glass, jewelry, metalwork, printmaking, mixed media, and more, they note. Returning favorite artists include back-to-back Best of Show-winner Richard Wilson from Greenville, North Carolina; metalsmith Dan McCabe from Prescott, Arizona; and printmaker Marina Terauds from North Branch, Michigan. More than 20 local “emerging artists” will be exhibiting at the event for the first time. More information here.

Entertainment
Four different stages will stay moving and grooving all weekend, featuring big names from country music, jazz, R&B, swing, and more. Headliners include Texas singer/songwriting powerhouse Josh Weathers, South African Grammy-nominated jazz guitarist Jonathan Butler, soulful Southern singer/songwriter Tanner Usrey, jazz singer Tatiana “LadyMay” Mayfield, Latin rock band Del Castillo, Fort Worth favorite Grady Spencer & The Work, and multiple performances from multimedia troupe Squonk Opera. Returning is the popular “Hear Fort Worth Stage,” where Fort Worth’s most popular singer-songwriters and aspiring musicians — such as Van Darien, Matthew McNeal, Panther City Riots, Armond Vance, and Olemano — will perform live, the release says. More information here.

Food and drink
Both local chefs and longtime festival vendors will be cooking daily at five different festival food courts, organizers say. Attendees can chow down on authentic Texas barbecue, spicy fried chicken, Louisiana crawfish, German bratwurst, handmade crepes, zesty steak fajitas, original corn dogs, and more. Returning will be the popular Imagery Wine Experience hosted by City Center, which offers wines-by-the-glass and daily wine tastings; multiple Craft Brew Pavilions will be set up serving award-winning craft beers, as well. More information here.

Kids' activities
The revamped “TCC Makers Zone,” located at the north end of Main Street across from the Tarrant County Courthouse, will offer kids of all ages activities that focus on invention, innovation, technology, creativity, and curiosity, the release says. Think: invention stations, LEGO building, sand art, caricatures, face painting, and state-of-the-art technology displays from the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, Bell Helicopter, and Lockheed Martin. More information here.

Main St. Fort Worth Arts Festival will take place 10 am-10 pm April 7, 10 am-11 pm April 8-9, and 10 am-8 pm April 10 along Main Street and surrounding areas in downtown Fort Worth.

Note that in another change this year, Main St. events will not take place in Sundance Square Plaza; a separate event called Fort Worth Art Fair, presented by Sundance Square, is happening in the plaza the same weekend. According to the event's website, it is unaffiliated with Main St. Fort Worth Arts Festival and will offer its own lineup of art and artists, musicians, and food.

galleries festivals

Ancient Sculpture News

Fort Worth museum one of only 3 in U.S. to get rare sculpture exhibit

Lorenzo di Masi/Torlonia Collection

The Torlonia Nile

A major exhibition of ancient Roman masterworks is coming to the U.S. for the first time to be viewed at only three museums — including the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth.

Called Myth and Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection, it's an assemblage of works stewarded by the Torlonia Family beginning in the early-19th century, and will be installed at the Kimbell from September 14, 2025 – January 25, 2026.

As part of the Foundation’s mission to showcase these historical works to the public, the exhibition will premiere at the Art Institute of Chicago on March 15 through June 29, before traveling to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. Its third stop will be at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, from March 14 - July 19, 2026.

The Torlonia Collection was established during the course of the 19th century by the Franco-Italian banker Prince Giovanni Torlonia and his son Alessandro, then handed down over generations, eventually growing into the largest private collection of ancient Roman sculptures.

Today, the Torlonia Foundation represents the culmination of the Family’s continued passion for art. Created at the behest of Prince Alessandro Torlonia (1925–2017), the Foundation’s mission is to preserve and promote the Torlonia Collection and Villa Albani Torlonia.

In 1876, Prince Alessandro Torlonia (1800-1886) created a museum to house and exhibit the Family’s holdings, which was open to small groups until its closure at the onset of World War II. The sculptures remained unseen by the public from that time until the Foundation’s first exhibition at the Musei Capitolini in Rome in 2020. That was followed by a stint at the Louvre, the first presentation of the collection outside of Rome, where it has drawn more than 600,000 visitors to date, an unprecedented feat.

The exhibit
The curators of Myth & Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection are Lisa Ayla Çakmak and Katharine A. Raff of the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition is co-organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Torlonia Foundation, in collaboration with the Kimbell Art Museum, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and The Museum Box. All of the sculptures in the exhibition have been restored by the Foundation with the support of Bvlgari.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue co-published by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Torlonia Foundation, edited by Lisa Ayla Çakmak and Katharine A. Raff, with essays by Silvia Beltrametti and Salvatore Settis.

The North American presentation will feature 58 highlights from the Torlonia Collection, including 24 newly restored works that have not been on view in nearly a century. The sculptures date from approximately the 5th century BCE to the early 4th century CE, with the majority of the works dating to the High Imperial period (1st–2nd centuries CE). Highlights include examples of the most emblematic genres of ancient marble sculpture, acquired by the Torlonia Family from the most prominent collections of Rome’s patrician families, as well as from excavations made on the Family’s own estates throughout Italy.

“The Foundation is excited to be sharing the Torlonia Collection with audiences in North America for the first time. This exceptional group of ancient sculptures is a testament to the enduring cultural legacy of ancient Rome, as well as the vision and passion of multiple generations of the Torlonia Family,” said Alessandro Poma Murialdo, President of the Torlonia Foundation.

The presentation is organized thematically in six sections, featuring sculptures found on the Torlonia Family’s properties in Rome and the surrounding suburbs and their estate in Porto, Portugal, as well as a number of exceptional sarcophagi (stone coffins), among the largest sculpted works in marble to survive from ancient Rome.

The tour reinforces the work of the Foundation to advance the appreciation and understanding of this unparalleled collection and the rich cultural heritage it represents. The Foundation’s mission is carried out through a continuous joint effort between the public and private sectors, including with the cooperation of the Italian Ministry of Culture. The Foundation is supported by a longstanding collaboration with Bvlgari as the principal sponsor of the restoration project since its inception in Rome and throughout the global tour, and Chiomenti, who has lent invaluable support to the Foundation’s core activities.

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Ancient Sculpture News

Fort Worth museum one of only 3 in U.S. to get rare sculpture exhibit