Lexington artists open their studios for tours this weekend
Editor’s Note: As Lexington celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, the Herald-Leader and kentucky.com each day throughout 2025 will share interesting facts about our hometown. Compiled by Liz Carey, all are notable moments in the city’s history — some funny, some sad, others heartbreaking or celebratory, and some just downright strange.
Across Lexington, artists will open their creative spaces to the public this weekend to celebrate the arts.
Sponsored by 250Lex, the event kicks off November’s theme of art as part of the city’s year-long celebration of its founding. Arts Connect Lex, a Lexington-based arts organization, will provide maps to studios for art lovers to meet artists and see the space where they create their works. Additionally, some locations may have studio sales during the event.
Arts Connect works to help bring the community and the artists who are based here together, said Kate Savage, the event’s organizer.
“We work with artists for artists,” she said. “We’re very much geared into the arts scene and the creative industry here in Lexington and in the surrounding communities … And we try to produce events and opportunities to promote the arts and to make connections, hence our name Arts Connect. We try to make the community more aware of the value of the arts.”
The event started in 2019, and ran every two years, but when participation dropped in 2023, the event was put on hold. With the support of the 250Lex Commission, the event seemed like a natural fit to celebrate all the arts had to give in Lexington, Savage said.
“Having done it before, the machine was oiled, and the artists were on board,” Savage said. “There’s been a lot more enthusiasm this time.”
The event is free, but attendees have to make a reservation online. After a reservation is made, information will be given on where to pick up directories for the event.
About a third of the studios are either in the artists’ homes or on their properties. The rest are businesses around Lexington, like Arts Attic and Luigart Studios, which houses multiple artists in one spot. In all, attendees will be able to tour 58 work spaces, Savage said.
The tour includes a booklet, which lists each artist, a photograph of their work and information about the studio. Additionally, the group has created a mobile app that connects with Google Maps to help people navigate from one spot to the next.
The open studios weekend runs Nov. 1 and Nov. 2. Interested individuals can register at artsconnectlex.org or through the 250lex.com website.
Have a question or story idea related to Lexington’s 250-year history? Let us know at 250LexKy@gmail.com.