As SXSW Scales Back Music, the Deep Ellum Community Arts Fair Doubles Down

Shortly after the conclusion of its 2025 event, SXSW announced that it would be scaling back the music presence for 2026 programming, doing away with the four-day music-centric wing of the festival and confirming the pivot towards film and TV.

Music won’t be totally absent from the festival, but the decision remains a big loss, especially to the thousands of local artists who make the trek to Austin each year.

But in Dallas, artists and organizers are singing a different tune. Next weekend will mark the third annual Deep Ellum Community Art Fair (DECAF), a three-day, free to attend spectacle featuring over 100 visual artists and dozens of performing artists. For the 2025 event, the fair is adding a fourth music stage, up from three in years past.

The festivities will be held all over Deep Ellum, but especially up and down Crowdus St., where the vendors and music stages will be located.

The visual art selection ranges from apparel to paintings, with local vendors selected from an applicant pool by a small jury. Staffing for the event is almost entirely volunteer-based, something that organizer Breonny Lee is especially fond of.

“It speaks to Deep Ellum,” she says. “The community and the kind of DIY ingenuity that makes up the spirit of Deep Ellum and the Dallas arts scene. We have a lot of artists who contribute to this event because they believe in it.”

Lee also notes that the local businesses in Deep Ellum have been receptive to the planning. It’s three days of festivities, with the market and live music programming all day. DECAF’s four live music stages each have their own curated lineups.

Booking for the “Gateway Stage,” located at 200 N Crowdus St., was a collaborative effort with the management behind Reno’s Chop Shop Saloon, who recommended a few acts that previously played at their stage, notably the rowdy three-piece, Thyroids.
Only a short walk away, “Spotlight Stage” on 400 S Crowdus St. is set for an eclectic weekend, as demonstrated by Saturday night’s closers, metal band Secret Of Boris before King Booty Disco, who sound exactly as their name suggests.
On the “Blues Alley” stage at on 2801 Clover St., we’re most excited for the Cayuga All-Stars on Saturday night at 9 p.m.
Lastly, DECAF’s new fourth stage is dubbed the “Life Stage,” and features some limited acts, with empty spaces to be filled with Booker T. Washington students and buskers from the Texas Music Office’s busking initiative.
We’re in for quite the weekend. Lee spoke on the uncertainty in Dallas arts during our call with her.

“We’re in a weird spot,” Lee says. “The underground arts, kind of the everyday artists, are struggling to find a place. A lot of our galleries have closed down. There’s emphasis on the big commercial contemporary arts, dare I say, at the expense of some of the smaller artists and art shows.”

Of course, this won’t be a trend that changes overnight. But with DECAF, last week’s Dallas Art Book Fair and April’s Dallas Arts Fair, the scene is doing all it can to survive, but maybe not quite enough for unique names.

“I don’t have a roadmap,” she says. “What I have is a sense of urgency that we need to do something to support our local artists. That’s what this event is. It’s just one drop in the bucket of something."