10 Tips to Help You Navigate this Year’s Charlotte International Arts Festival
Sep 12, 2025 / Blog
Something BIG is happening!
The 4th annual Charlotte International Arts Festival is up and running across the city, with art installations, performances, culture and food from around the world all September long.
It includes more than 120 free events, 300+ hours of fun, and 12 other unique festivals as part of the celebration.
Need some help finding your way? These tips from CIAF Manager Kat Martin are a great way to start.
(Charlotte International Arts Festival Manager Kat Martin)
Martin is a theater professional with about a decade of experience in festival management. She’s also the artistic director of Mixed Metaphors Productions, a local immersive theater company.
Here’s a look at what’s new, where to find some beloved returning features, and how you can start choosing your own adventure at this year’s CIAF.
1. One big thing that’s new.
This year, CIAF is adding a brand new location: The Iron District!
“The 13th and the 14th, we will be out in the Iron District for the very first time,” Martin says. “So we're really excited about that.”
👀 Check out these events • Iron District
SEPT. 13, NOON - 4PM, CHARLOTTE BRUNCH FESTIVAL, POPUP $7 Admission
- From brunch samples to live entertainment, this event is a great place to meet up with friends and family.
SEPT. 14, STARTING AT NOON, CLTURE DAY AND NIGHT MARKET - FREE ADMISSION
- A family-friendly celebration of East Asian culture, this event features food trucks, live entertainment, and art.
SEPT. 13 & 14 - INTERNATIONAL BAZAAR, $7 SATURDAY / FREE ADMISSION SUNDAY
- Experience art, food and goods from vendors and merchants, representing local non-profits and cultural organizations.
PRO TIP: The Iron District is also home to Blume Studios, now featuring Monopoly Live, if you’re looking for another fun activity to pair with your day at CIAF.
2. Pre-game fun before CharlotteFC takes on Inter Miami.
Also new this year, on Saturday, Sept. 13 CIAF is partnering with CharlotteFC for a pre-match meet-up on Levine Avenue. There are tons of free events. Since it’s close to the Iron District (about five minutes by car), you can easily split your time between the two locations on Sept. 13, Martin says.
“We will have a full day of programming on the Levine Avenue for the Arts that starts with yoga and goes through to some performances that we have happening on the Levine My Stage from North Carolina Brazilian Arts Project and ending the night with Gravitate, which is a local group that does global house music and hand percussion.”
👀 Check out these events on Sept. 13 • Levine Avenue for the Arts
10AM & 11AM SESSIONS - ROOTS TO RISE (Register Here) FREE ADMISSION
- Breathe deeply and find restoration through this yoga practice that uses silent disco headphones to create a personal sanctuary.
10AM - 7PM - COLLABORATIVE COMMUNITY TAPESTRY FREE ADMISSION
- Art activity station with Ampersand Arts and Shana Templin on The Green.
2 - 5PM - LEAVING YOUR MARK, A ZINE WORKSHOP FREE ADMISSION
- Join Queen City Zine Fest in the Knight Theater lobby for this hands-on activity.
2 - 5PM - LOCAL LEGENDS LIVE SCREEN PRINTING with DRC Apeparel FREE ADMISSION
- Live t-shirt screen printing in the Knight Theater lobby with this local company, founded by a Congolese immigrant.
3PM - DJ DANTEK FREE ADMISSION
4PM - LA BESTIA POP UP BY NOUVEAU SUD FREE ADMISSION
- Head to The Green for a sneak peek of this daring cirque show.
5PM - NORTH CAROLINA BRAZILIAN ARTS PROJECT FREE ADMISSION
- Catch this group known for their incredible percussion and exhilarating performances.
5:30PM - COMMUNITY PUPPET PARADE AND DANCE PARTY WITH CATTYWAMPUS PUPPET COUNCIL. FREE ADMISSION
- Meet at The Green to join in this joyful celebration with giant puppets and the Knox Honkers & Bangers marching band. The parade kicks off at 6pm!
7PM - GRAVITATE FREE ADMISSION
- Join the party as DJs spin Deep, Soulful, and Afro-House music along with live percussion.
3. Check out the Festival Biergarten.
Grab a beer, hang out with friends and enjoy the live music, giant art and games.
🍺 Open Tuesdays through Sundays, Sept. 12 - 28 🎸• Levine Avenue of the Arts
- Weekdays beginning at 4:30pm
- Sat & Sun beginning at 10am
4. Here’s where you can find Blumenthal Fellows’ artwork
Every year CIAF selects a group of local established artists ready to take creative risks, as Blumenthal Fellows. Fellows receive funding, mentoring from past artists and the chance to showcase their work at the festival.
Since 2021, more than $500,000 has gone toward supporting 50 groundbreaking projects.
👀Check out their artwork all festival long at these locations:
📍Blume Studios
Artist: Eva Crawford
Project: “Quilt Cube”
- Large scale vinyl reproductions of portraits painted on damaged vintage quilts.
Artist: Jay Huleatt
Project: “SYNC”
- In this intentionally unfinished work, your gestures help reshape the artwork with colors and rhythms to add the missing piece.
📍The Green
Artist: Emily Sage Avery
Project: “Together”
- Two larger-than-life corn husk dolls make music when you link hands with them.
Artist: Nony Tresierra
Project: “Torito de Pucara”
- A colorful, interactive sculpture of a giant traditional Peruvian pucará bull.
Artist: Friday Jones
Project: “The Fourt”
- In this greenhouse structure, visitors learn about four distinctly Black-centered neighborhoods and their journeys through gentrification and change.
📍Knight Theater Lobby Windows
Artist: Dweh Brown
Project: “Born Rich, Black As My Soul…”
- Celebrate the richness, resilience, and radiance of Black identity in this visual storytelling series.
📍Levine Avenue of the Arts
Artist: Kortney Paloalto
Project: “Mix & Match Magic”
- Interact with this 3-part revolving sculpture that combines charter creations in the colorful Mexican folk art style of alebrije with images evoking Charlotte.
Artist: Rupam Varma
Project: “The Music Yard”
- These interactive replicas of instruments from around the world are created with sustainable materials.
Artist: Vaishali Awale
Project: “Art Safari – Line It Up!”
- Activate a special light feature when you align the rotating cubes featuring vibrant images of birds, animals, food and famous architecture from countries represented by our CIAF communities.
5. Here’s what’s happening at Ballantyne’s Backyard this year.
This lush, green setting—a former golf course—is a favorite destination for festival-goers.
👀Check out two of the city's biggest cultural festivals down in Ballantyne:
SEPT. 20, STARTING AT NOON, 35TH ANNUAL LATIN AMERICAN FESTIVAL FREE FOR KIDS
- Celebrate the diversity and richness of Latin American culture with internationally renowned musical performers, dynamic dance acts, authentic Latin cuisine, crafts, family activities and more.
SEPT. 21, NOON - 8:30PM, 29TH ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF INDIA (DAY 2) FREE ADMISSION
- Experience the vibrancy of Indian culture through a kaleidoscope of experiences including live performances, food, art, fashion, hands-on activities and demonstrations. The day culminates in a special performance: Rhythms of India with soul of America, in a fusion orchestra with the Charlotte Symphony at 7pm. (Day 1 events take place uptown on Sept. 20).
💡SEPT. 21 & 22, BE SURE TO VISIT “LABYRINTH” BY ATELIER SISU, a Sydney-based design studio. The design of this "modular colourful Art-chitecture and a temporary playground” is inspired by the golden ratio and the Fibonacci sequence, both celebrated in nature for their harmonious spiral forms—think sunflowers, seashells, and pinecones. FREE ADMISSION
PRO TIP: Atelier Sisu also has two giant public art creations located on Levine Avenue of the Arts and The Green.
6. New larger-than-life puppets join the celebration.
Keep your eye out for three new giant pageant puppets making their way around town. “Women of the World,” commissioned by CIAF and created by local puppeteer Christine McLennan, represent a trio of incredible trail-blazing women:
🛩️Bessie Coleman, the first African-American and Native American woman pilot, renowned for her stunt flying.
🏴☠️Cheng I Sao, a fearsome 19th century Chinese pirate.
🌿Ynés Mexía, an adventurous early 20th century Mexican-American botanist and conservationist.
They will be popping up at CIAF events all around the city, including Festival in the Park (Freedom Park, Sept. 19 - 21) and UNC Charlotte’s International Festival (UNCC Main Campus, Sept. 27).
7. A lunchtime event uptown.
If you’re wondering how such a big festival all comes together, check out the Community Cue event on September 17 for a “backstage” perspective on CIAF.
Audience members who attend this free event will “hear from some of the artists that are involved in CIAF this year,” Martin says, “and take a peek in their processes and hear more about the art.”
👀Check it out!
SEPT. 17, STARTING AT NOON, COMMUNITY CUE CIAF EDITION FREE ADMISSION (Register Here)
- Find out about the 100+ free events happening and hear from participating artists. Free lunch included. Registration required.
8. A festival of festivals.
Martin says the team behind CIAF is excited to continue expanding the event as a celebration of festivals within the festival.
“You can find programming from Blumenthal on Levine and Iron District and Ballantyne's Backyard, September 13th through the 28th. But there's so much happening throughout the month of September that folks can find on the website …We have a lot of offerings and I'm excited that people can really kind of choose their own adventure and decide what things speak to them and stumble upon things that maybe they didn't know speak to them.”
9. And speaking of speaking…
Writer’s note: This will be my 4th year attending CIAF and I didn’t realize until speaking with Martin that those in the know don’t call it by its initials. They refer to it as one word that sounds like “SEA-OFF.”
Now you can tell your friends: “See you at CIAF!”
10. What Martin’s looking forward to the most.
“We're bringing in some incredible international work… but we made a conscious decision at the beginning of this year that we were going to really look in our own community,” Martin said.
“One in six Charlotteans are born outside of the continental U.S. This year, more than ever before, we're really invested in the cultural richness and cultural diversity and international art and creatives that exist right here in our own community."