Northeast Indiana is a region that showcases the creativity and talents of many different walks of life. That’s what makes our region one of the best places to live in the country. 

If you’re looking for a glimpse at life in the region, here’s a short list of ways we celebrate the arts-and-culture scene in Northeast Indiana.

Eleven Ways Northeast Indiana Celebrates the Arts

1. We’re a destination for arts and culture.

The vibrant arts-and-culture scene in Northeast Indiana fills calendars quickly. The Northeast Indiana arts community is creating an arts-centric region that will advance quality of life and cultural growth. From galleries and museums, like the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, to exhibits and hands-on workshops, you’ll find the creative outlet you need to balance the workday routine.

2. We have a campus dedicated to arts and a district rich with culture.

Established in 1955, Arts United is the third-oldest nonprofit united arts fund in the United States and the second-largest arts council in Indiana. Arts United’s mission is to develop, coordinate, and support arts and cultural efforts in Northeast Indiana. On the Arts Campus in downtown Fort Wayne is the Arts United’s Auer Center for Arts & Culture, where you’ll find the Fort Wayne Ballet, the Artlink Art Gallery, FAME, the Parkview Physician’s Group ArtsLab theater, and administrative offices for Fort Wayne Trails and Arts United. The building also houses a public lobby and a cafe. This Arts Campus is just one part of the downtown Fort Wayne Cultural District.

3. We celebrate our diversity.

In Northeast Indiana, we believe in celebrating the diversity that makes our community richer. For example, Fort Wayne, located in the heart of Northeast Indiana, is home to one of the largest populations of Burmese residents in the nation. The cultural influences are found throughout our regional art scene, and we host a number of annual events designed to showcase Burmese culture through dance and art. And that’s just one example. From traditional Japanese folk dancing to Taiko drums, the Cherry Blossom Festival celebrates all things Japanese, and has for more than 10 years. There’s also Germanfest, Greek Fest, Arab Fest, and the International Village at the Three Rivers Festival.

4. Art is a part of our history.

If you’re an artist looking to make an impact on the art scene, Northeast Indiana is a place you can blossom. Art is our past, our present, and our future. Many renowned artists got their start here. In Adams County, the Decatur Sculpture Tour celebrates public art and the charming city’s history as the birthplace and boyhood home of David Smith, abstract expressionist sculptor and painter widely heralded as the greatest American sculptor of the 20th century for his large steel abstract geometric sculptures.

5. Street art adds color and vibrancy to our regional downtowns.

No matter which downtown, no matter which sidewalk, when you walk around our regional downtowns, art abounds. Sculptures seem to dance, and vivid murals painted by local artists on old brick buildings add instant interest. One can’t-miss event, Sculptures on the Square in downtown Auburn, features everything from hand-painted wall murals to public artwork made of recycled plastic material.

6. We love art, especially on Fridays.

There’s something special about Fridays. The workweek is over, and it’s time to celebrate a weekend full of opportunity. In Northeast Indiana, there are a lot of choices for fun on a Friday night. If you’re in Wabash and it’s the first Friday of the month, it’s time for First Friday. First Friday celebrates the vibrant arts and music scene in downtown Wabash. Stroll the streets, listening to live music and touring local art galleries, venues, studios, and museums.

7. Amish culture adds a rural flair. 

Part of life in Northeast Indiana is seeing a horse and buggy trotting down the road. This is Amish country. In LaGrange County, Amish life brings great diversity to the arts-and-culture scene in the region. The Amish community’s handcrafted arts and crafts include everything from furniture to custom artwork. 

8. Art pops up on every corner.

Pop-up boutiques. Spontaneous live art demonstrations. Downtown art tours. Impromptu galleries in vacant buildings. Art is around every corner in Northeast Indiana. The more informal, the better. Art can be celebrated outside the museum, and that’s what our pop-up-art scene is all about.

9. Art is big business.

Our region embraces its history of creative entrepreneurship. Businesses, including Vera Bradley, Mudlove, and Matilda Jane, started in Northeast Indiana. This is good soil for creatives.

10. Craftsmanship flourishes with handmade products.

We like to make things. From Amish furniture to sculptures and animation to environments, we are a community of doers. We build things that last, and we build them with our hands. Take for example, our Sculpture with a Purpose and our hand-painted park benches. We have the courage to think outside of the box and to create something that matters.

11. The creative juices are flowing in the region, and you can influence this progress.

In Northeast Indiana, we live out our values every day. We keep things simple, treat people with respect, and help our neighbor. That’s how we’ve always done it. Transplants from larger cities often comment about how easy it is to find a fit in our midsize community. The same can be said about joining the arts-and-culture scene here. Wunderkammer Company regularly encourages exhibitions featuring new and emerging artists while Jennifer Ford Art urges new-to-town artists to submit artwork to introduce artists to the growing creative community. Plant yourself in the region, and get ready for a Hoosier welcome. 

While there is a small-town feel throughout Northeast Indiana, you’re never too far from one of our vibrant downtowns with great dining and an exciting nightlife. 

If you’re looking for a glimpse at what life looks like in our area, here’s a short list of ways we celebrate our dining and nightlife. 

Eleven Ways Northeast Indiana Celebrates Dining and Nightlife

1. You can get the drink you want, and it’s locally made.

Whether your drink of choice is an ice-cold draft beer or a specialty craft cocktail made with local spirits, you’ll find it in Northeast Indiana. Here you can benefit from a vibrant bar scene. Whether you choose to visit a local dive bar or a high-class, white-tablecloth establishment, the locally made beer, wine, and spirits there are sure to quench your thirst. Here’s a short list of some regional entrepreneurs:

• Chapman’s Brewing Company
• Mad Anthony Brewing Company
• Summit City Brewerks
• Two EE’s Winery
• Satek Winery
• Country Heritage Winery
• Three Rivers Distilling Company

2. Night owls can cut a rug on the dance floor.

In any college town, you’ll find a trendy club scene. In our region, we have quite a few college towns,  so you have options. From nightclubs with national hip-hop artists to 90s night with your favorite DJ at the local dance club, a safe and fun night out with friends can last into the wee hours of the morning.

3. Music flows throughout the region. Can you hear it?

There’s something to be said for live music. Whether it’s smooth acoustic music from the back of a restaurant or an intimate show at a local winery, we not only can turn our live music up to 11, but we can also dial it back for a quiet date night.

4. The show will begin in 5-4-3-2-1.

Nightlife isn’t just about drinks and dinner. We uphold and embrace the classic dinner and a movie scenario. Welcome to the Midwest, where drive-in movie theaters are a summer tradition and free outdoor movie screenings bring communities and families together.

5. Appreciate the classics and benefit from the culture: Music here is a masterpiece.

Music in Northeast Indiana enriches your soul, and it makes our culture vibrant. From symphony orchestras to vocal ensembles, we appreciate the classics.

6. Fine dining is an experience here—it’s also a culinary adventure. 

Whether it’s a special occasion or an opportunity to treat yourself, indulging at a fine-dining establishment in Northeast Indiana will be memorable, thanks to an array of options in all of our 11 counties. And the food! The food is magnificent. It melts in your mouth. It smells like heaven. It tastes like nothing you’ve ever had before. Are you ready to experience the culinary adventure that awaits in Northeast Indiana?

7. Farm-to-fork is a fad in some places, but here, it’s a way of life.

For centuries, Northeast Indiana has been home to farmers raising cattle and tending fields. But in recent years, we have grown into a foodie hotspot, welcoming creative chefs and locally sourced farm-to-fork restaurants sure to please any palate. And we have room to grow, too. If you’re inspired by our rural charm and entrepreneurial spirit, come enjoy a great local meal, and treat yourself to the tastes from our regional farms.

8. There’s just something better about eating al fresco.

Whether you’re enjoying breakfast, lunch, or dinner, eating in outdoor cafes is always a treat.
In Northeast Indiana, there’s convenient parking and there are plenty of outdoor dining options including Mad Anthony’s Lake City Tap House, Joseph Decuis, the Hoppy Gnome and others to choose from.

9. Want to hear the best-quality sound? Let’s head outside!

The sun shines down on you as you sit in lush green grass, music travels through the air, and your favorite performer is on stage. When it comes to sound quality, there is no better place to experience live music than in the great outdoors. You can enjoy a multitude of outdoor performance venues in Northeast Indiana. 

10. On Sundays, we brunch.

Brunch is that nice sweet spot in the day that’s a little later than breakfast and little earlier than lunch. It’s a time when you can unwind after a weekend full of adventure and prepare for a relaxing Sunday with family. From greasy-spoon dive restaurants to breakfast buffets paired with a bloody mary and a mimosa bar, Sunday brunch will fill your belly and your heart.

11. The food truck craze is taking over Northeast Indiana.

From lunch in downtown Fort Wayne to food trucks at First Fridays in Wabash, we love eating our food on the street. Somehow, it just tastes better. If you’re looking for a quick dinner and want to locate a food truck near you, we have a huge perk for you, you food-truck foodie. Dash n’ Dine is an app that helps you locate some good grub. The best thing about food trucks? Where there’s one, there are many, and that means more food—and fun—for you!

Cultural festivals. Foodie fairs. Car shows. Pet parades. No matter what kind of festival fun you like to have, we have an event just for you.

In Northeast Indiana, we love to throw a party. Simply add “fest” to the end of the name, and we’ll see you there.

There’s a lot to pick from, too. Here’s a short list of different types of festivals we host in the region. 

Eleven Different Types of Festivals in Our Region

1. We love to throw festivals. 

In Northeast Indiana, we encourage people from all walks of life to dream big — like festival big. From Greek Fest and Germanfest to the Cherry Blossom Festival and  Berne Swiss Days, we celebrate culture here because diversity makes our community richer. It gives us truly original flavor, and that’s something we can all benefit from.

2. Welcome home, neighbor. Now let’s celebrate.

We love our home in Northeast Indiana, and you can benefit from this hometown pride, too. Whether  it’s in Adams County or Whitley County, each of our 11 counties celebrates hometown pride. Fort Wayne has the Three Rivers Festival, Indiana’s second-largest summer festival—a family-friendly nine-day community-wide party.

3. Beer. Wine. Spirits. There’s a festival for that.

Local breweries, wineries, and distilleries are scattered throughout Northeast Indiana, but when you want to find them all in one place, just attend any one of the many festivals in the region. Not only does a festival bring all the best local vendors to one place, but it also draws visitors in with its taste-testing atmosphere. At many of our local beer or wine festivals, you can taste as many samples as you’d like, and there are always discounted prices on nonalcoholic choices for the designated driver, too!

4. We’ve reinvented the average arts festival.

There’s unique beauty in handmade art, and in Northeast Indiana, our region is teeming with stunning artwork. We are shaking up your average art festival, too. How do live art demonstrations sound? You can benefit from our creative arts culture and any number of our region’s art festivals. From artisans who are molding sculptures of people to those who are reinventing painting techniques, innovative craftsmanship prospers here.

5. We love a parade!

We love any reason to parade around town. Whether you are showing off your classic car or walking your dog to benefit pooches, festival parades are a part of life in the region. The best part? You get to pick the festival that interests you most!

6. We’re crafty, and we show it.

We have many different arts and craft festivals in the region. But one very popular destination is in LaGrange County—the Shipshewana Arts and Crafts Festival. The festival is a tribute to the crafting and old-fashioned culture in the surrounding Shipshewana countryside. Quilters, carvers, painters, cloggers, musicians, and crafters of all types flood the town and its many quaint stores, providing demonstrations and entertainment.

7. We are always celebrating downtown.

Our regional downtowns are full of energy and enthusiasm. When you there, you can feel it. It’s a good feeling too. Our downtowns are vibrant, and there are always fun things to do. In our smaller communities, you’ll find quaint and charming First Friday events that feature arts, live music, and local food. In Fort Wayne, our region’s largest city and the second-largest city in Indiana, you can enjoy a different festival nearly every weekend during the summer.

8. Northeast Indiana: a Midwestern music hotspot.

Momentum has a soundtrack, and it’s loud. With a mix of up-and-coming bands and national touring acts, Northeast Indiana’s music-festival scene is getting louder. Can you hear it? This is a place where indie, hip-hop, and rock and roll don’t just coexist, they converge.

9. Welcome to our 4-H fairs, where you can celebrate country heritage.

The smell of elephant ears fills the air. Loud music is muffled by excited screams from this year’s most popular fair ride. And you finally get to taste a fried Oreo. Welcome to an Indiana 4-H fair. Remember, you don’t have to be a farmer to enjoy a good, ol’-fashioned 4-H fair. From the homemade-pie competition to the livestock auction, the 4-H fair is where we honor the best in our country traditions, while being open to new ones. At the 4-H fair, you’ll get a real taste of our welcoming community, and that’s just one way you can benefit from our Hoosier hospitality.

10. Calling all motorheads! Come to Northeast Indiana and show off your sweet ride.

Cars are part of our history in Northeast Indiana. We design them. We build them. Today, we still celebrate this part of our history. At the Auburn Cord Duesenberg (ACD) Festival, hundreds of thousands of people venture to DeKalb County from around the world to honor the automobile legacy of the Auburn Automobile Company. Want to show off your car? You can do that, too. Many car clubs hold social events at local restaurants that include outstanding car shows. So cruise on in with your sweet ride and show us what’s under the hood.

11. Holidays are a time to celebrate—together. Join us, won’t you?

How do we celebrate holidays in this region?  With a community-wide festival, of course. Whether it’s Halloween, Christmas or any other holiday, the counties throughout our 11-county region celebrate in the streets with parades, live music, outdoor movies, and more. Holidays are big in Northeast Indiana because we love spending the important moments in life together. Are you ready to reap the benefits of living in a close community? We hope so, neighbor!