Southport Plein Air Festival

The Southport Plein Air Festival is a truly unique experience! An annual event jointly hosted by Up Your Arts and the City of Southport, this festival brings local and regional talent (and interested visitors!) to our scenic coastlines in celebration of capturing the true essence and beauty of the city.

En plein air is a French term meaning
“in the open air.”

The plein air movement gained popularity in France in the 1800s. With the ability to store paint in tubes, artists were able to go out into the open air to paint the landscapes around them in natural lighting. Today's plein air enthusiasts borrow from that movement to bring artists around the country to beautiful, inspirational places to paint and celebrate.

Since Southport is, in our totally unbiased opinion, one of the most beautiful and paintable places on earth, Up Your Arts is proud to partner with the City of Southport to present the annual Southport Plein Air Festival.

Ours is an event that features something for everyone. Not only are there an incredible variety of locations for artists to paint our amazing landscapes throughout Southport, we also host a reception for residents and visitors to meet and greet the artists with great food, live music, and painting demonstrations; and we sponsor Kids' Plein Air activities free to the general public that also showcase creative performance artists.

The event culminates in our famous Wet Paint Sale where residents and visitors clamor to buy unique artworks created during the event by participating artists.

2023 Southport Plein Air Festival

Original Art by Jon Cox, 2022 People's Choice winner

May18-20, 2023

Up Your Arts and the City of Southport are looking forward to hosting the 2023 Southport Plein Air Festival again in beautiful downtown Southport, May 18-20. We had so much fun last time, we are adding another day to the format this year and leaving it up to individual artists to decide: two days of painting or three? Friday - Saturday for $50 or Thursday - Saturday for $75 (no charge for the gorgeous Thursday night sunset).

Get Festival Information