DOWNTOWN EVENTS CALENDAR
CHECK OUT WHAT'S GOING ON IN DOWNTOWN DAYTON
Because you’re tired of the same routine...
BE DOWNTOWN
Find something fun to do with our calendar of downtown events.
BECAUSE YOU’RE TIRED OF THE SAME ROUTINE…
BE DOWNTOWN
Find something fun to do with our calendar of downtown events.
There’s always something fun going on downtown! Below you’ll find a list of events scheduled for today. Use the filters at the top to find events by date, keyword, and more. You can also view the calendar by month or as a list of 20 events at a time.
Have an event to submit to our calendar? If it is located downtown (within our service area) and open to the public, it’s likely we’ll include it. Send us your event info using our event submission form.
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Downtown Events Calendar
Exhibit: Curtis Barnes, Sr., Dayton Icon
July 20
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Curtis Barnes, Sr., Dayton Icon
July 12–September 14, 2025
A painter and educator, Curtis Barnes, Sr. was a longtime fixture of Dayton’s art scene. His bold, colorful, experimental paintings are a distinctive blend of naturalism and abstraction. They frequently include self-portraits and portraiture depicting the people in his life. His influence is still felt today among his students and in the African American Visual Arts Guild, which he co-founded with artist “Bing” Davis in 1992. He was recognized for his artistic contribution and presented with the “Paul Laurence Dunbar Humanitarian Award” in 1994 and the “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Ohio Arts Council in 2008.
This exhibition comes on the 90th anniversary of his birth and is a celebration of Barnes’ life and art. A DAI exclusive, this collection of works was drawn from his family and friends.