EPA Open Mic
March 6 | 6pm-8pm

Step up, speak out, and share your voice! It's time to perform!

Join us for an evening of expression, creativity, and community. Whether you're a seasoned performer or trying something new, Open Mic Night is your chance to take the stage. Sing a song, read a poem, tell a story, or share something all your own. All voices and styles are welcome.

​​​This Event is Free and Open to the Public!

Saturday Art Adventure
March 7, 14, 21, 28 | 1-2:30pm

Students will create boxes that correspond with different weekly themes. Each week, they will tour “The Alchemist”, by Lumi, to identify and discuss art that relates to the weekly theme. Students will create, draw on, and decorate their boxes.

March 7 - Time
March 14 - Emotion
March 21 - Earth
March 28 - Dreams

Saturday Art Adventure at the Dahl Arts Center is free to attend, thanks to our donors and "Friends of the Dahl," whose annual membership donations support arts and cultural programs year-round.

Student Art Auction
​March 7 | 9am-12pm

Join us for a student-led event celebrating creativity while supporting an important cause in our schools.

This event benefits RCAS student lunch debt, helping ensure students are ready to learn without barriers.
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• Live music from the Central & Stevens Jazz Bands
• Food and drinks available
• Hosted by the Youth City Council and Student School Board
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Come bid on incredible student artwork, support our students, and enjoy a great community event for a great cause.

Gender Expansive Artistry
​March 12 & 26 | 6-7:30pm

Feel free to bring any projects you are working on or start something new with our supplies! Enter through the Kansas City Door through the Culture Cafe. Open to Gender Expansive Trans Teens!

Happy Hour
March 13 | 5-7pm

​Happy Hours at the Dahl include a selection of beer, wine, and soda!

​Friends of the Dahl get their first drink free! Please check in at Guest Services to verify your membership and get your drink ticket. Becoming a Friend of the Dahl only takes 5 minutes, and you can take home a Free Permanent Collection Catalog!

​Cheers!

Home in Focus
March 13 | 5-7pm

Home in Focus is a community photography competition and exhibition centered around South Dakota as home. Photographers of all skill levels submitted for this show that celebrates beauty, stories, and the spirit of this region and their sense of home, whether it be a physical place or as a feeling. The show is divided into three categories: Youth, Amateur, and Professional. The selected images are then juried again for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in each category with a Best of Show and a People’s Choice Award. Voting opens on March 13 for the People's Choice Award!
Free & Open to Attend

Prisoners on the Prairie
​March 13 | 7-9pm

Following a viewing of the PBS Documentary, Held in Minnesota: Untold WWII POW Stories, Simmons will speak about the camps in Minnesota and South Dakota during World War Two.  Held in Minnesota: Untold WWII POW Stories, a recent documentary by Pioneer Public Television in Minnesota, earned a Midwest Emmy as the best documentary in 2025. 
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Dean Simmons is the author of Swords into Plowshares: Minnesota’s POW Camps During World War Two.  Simmons has researched and written about multiple aspects of Minnesota history, in particular stories related to World War Two.  He has been a featured speaker at the Minnesota World War Two History Roundtable Series held at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul.  He was born and raised in Olivia, Minnesota, the site of Minnesota’s first POW camp.

Youth Spring Art Camp
March 16 | 9am-3pm

​In this Spring Art Camp, Students will be creating two projects, draw a landscape scene using colored bleeding tissue paper and crafting a multilayered work of art that shows the life cycle of a frog!

Art Camps at the Dahl Arts Center are fun-filled days full of art projects, friends, and giggles. Kids will be guided through multiple projects by skilled art educators. Students will need to bring a sack lunch and clothes to get messy in!

Women's Showcase
​March 21 | 6pm

In celebration of Women's History Month and International Women's Day, we're bringing together a collection of extraordinary musicians, poets, and storytellers for a night of empowerment!

Abbey Leach & Marcia Kenobbie
Kenna Cook
Lily Mendoza
Natalie Slack
Two-Tone Clarinets: Valerie Andrew & Peggie Lovrein
Sophia Tautkus

Minneluzahan Open Mic
March 23 | 1-2:30pm

Join us for an afternoon of expression, creativity, and community at the Minneluzahan Senior Center. Whether you're a seasoned performer or trying something new, this open mic is your chance to take the stage. Sing a song, read a poem, tell a story, or share something all your own. All voices and styles are welcome.

Happy Hour
March 27 | 3-5pm

​Happy Hours at the Dahl include a selection of beer, wine, and soda!

​Friends of the Dahl get their first drink free! Please check in at Guest Services to verify your membership and get your drink ticket. Becoming a Friend of the Dahl only takes 5 minutes, and you can take home a Free Permanent Collection Catalog!

​Cheers!

SD Governor's 11th Biennial Art Exhibition Closing
​March 27 | 5-7pm

The South Dakota Governor’s Biennial Art Exhibition was established in 2003 to recognize and encourage artists across the state and to celebrate South Dakota’s rich artistic identity. Featuring 62 artworks by 57 artists, this traveling exhibition has journeyed from the South Dakota Art Museum, to the Washington Pavilion, to the University Art Galleries at the University of South Dakota, and now concludes its statewide tour at the Dahl Arts Center on March 27! See it before it's gone!

EPA Spotlight
​March 27 | 6-8pm

Join us for a night of live music at the Dahl! The Spotlight will be shining on one of the Midwest's most fluent and expressive guitar players, Johnny Hastings!

The performances are free and open to the public, providing an opportunity for the community to enjoy and appreciate the artists’ work. Drinks available for purchase!

Intro to Crochet
Starting April 1 | 1-3pm

No matter the age or experience level, crochet helps people slow down, build confidence, and find calm through creativity.
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This class is designed to be approachable, supportive, and engaging. Students learn foundational skills like the slip knot, chain stitch, single and double crochet, and how to read a simple pattern. Each session includes clear instruction, hands-on practice, and often a moment of mindfulness to support emotional well-being.

Youth Early Release Art Class
April 3 | 1:30-4:30pm

Students will explore and create different types of clouds using various papers and materials. Students can create realistic clouds or create friendly clouds with faces and expressions. From there, they will attach a full spectrum of colored strings to their clouds to create rainbows. Students will also be able to group, twist, or braid the string to create a pattern or style of their choice.

Free to attend, thanks to our generous donors. Consider donating to support programs that provide meaningful creative opportunities for our youth.

Call for Art: Best of the West
Submission Due: April 17

The Best of the West exhibition offers an opportunity for high school students to submit their 2D and 3D artworks for display at the Dahl Arts Center. Awards are presented to recognize outstanding work, fostering a competitive and professional experience for young artists. ​

Exploring Locally: Herb & Jan Conn's Legacy
April 18 | 6pm
​Dahl Arts Center

Opening the Rapid City Festival on Saturday, April 18, the Rapid City Arts Council is thrilled to showcase a local film produced by South Dakota Public Broadcasting, “The Ups and Downs of Herb and Jan Conn.” Together, Herb and Jan Conn opened people’s eyes to new worlds of exploration through their hundreds of first ascents in the Needles and their discovery of a vast underworld of the Black Hills. Herb and Jan Conn inspired many climbers, cartographers, and artists to explore the hills and find their own inspiration.

After the SDPB film screening, you’ll hear from a panel of local explorers, Rene Ohms, Lindsay Stephens, Bridget Machacek, Chris Pelczarski, Daryl Stisser, Cheryl Mayer-Stisser, and Libby Oney. Mike Ray will moderate this panel. Mike Ray has spent more than 30 years working as both a journalist and science communicator. He is a graduate of South Dakota Mines who grew up in the Black Hills, where he has spent the better part of his life.

Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival in Rapid City
April 20-21 | 6:30pm
Elks Theatre

The BANFF Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour brings together breathtaking cinematography, inspiring narratives, and the world’s most daring athletes and explorers. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience the thrill of adventure on the Elks Theatre big screen.

Black Hills Jazz Fest
​April 25 at the Dahl

Presented by Improvise Arts, the Black Hills Jazz Festival encourages listeners to move through downtown Rapid City while discovering music in unexpected places April 22-25, 2026.

More Info Coming Soon!

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE RAPID CITY ARTS COUNCIL

The Rapid City Arts Council staff and Board of Directors thanks the City of Rapid City for continuously supporting our mission and the arts. The generosity of our many volunteers, donors, and members drives our mission to champion inclusive, innovative and inspiring arts opportunities to enrich the communities we serve.  Additional support comes from the South Dakota Community Foundation, Black Hills Area Community Foundation, and the South Dakota Arts Council with funds from the State of South Dakota through the Department of Tourism and the National Endowment for the Arts. The Dahl Arts Center is a municipal facility of the City of Rapid City and is managed by the Rapid City Arts Council on behalf of the Rapid City community.
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