Gwinnett County's biggest arts celebration just hit a milestone. Explore Gwinnett, the county's destination marketing organization, kicked off the 10th annual ARTober Gwinnett on October 1 — a month-long run of public art installations, live demonstrations, and festivals spread across Peachtree Corners, Suwanee, Duluth, Norcross, Lawrenceville, and Sugar Hill.
“For the last 10 years, ARTober has served as an incredible celebration of all things arts and culture across Gwinnett County,” said Madison Chucci, senior community development manager at Explore Gwinnett.
New public art in four cities
This year's ARTober adds a set of Mini Art Galleries at three spots around the county — Peachtree Corners Town Green, Suwanee Circle, and Eye Candy Art Studio in downtown Duluth — on display through October 31. Artist Max Eve designed the mini galleries, with installation design by Lisette Correa of ARRRTADDICT.
In Historic Norcross, a temporary public art installation called “GROW HERE” runs October 1 through November 8 in Skin Alley, a partnership between Explore Gwinnett, the design studio Dashboard, and the City of Norcross.
The marquee night: Not Your Mother's Art Fest
ARTober's headline event returns to Lawrenceville on Friday, October 16, from 6 to 10 p.m. Not Your Mother's Art Fest sets up at Slow Pour Brewing, 407 N. Clayton St., with nontraditional art installations, live painting and performance demonstrations, and hands-on workshops. The free, family-friendly festival has built a following since it launched, and last year's edition was named the 2025 Best New Event in the Southeast by the Southeast Festivals & Events Association.
A second festival in Sugar Hill
The lineup also includes the Sugar Rush Arts Festival, running October 17 and 18 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 5039 West Broad Street NE in Sugar Hill — giving ARTober two full festival weekends back to back on opposite sides of the county.
Funding the next decade of local artists
ARTober isn't just programming — it's also when Explore Gwinnett opens its next round of grant funding. Applications for 2027 Gwinnett Creativity Fund Project Grants open October 1 and run through January 31, 2027. The fund has awarded more than $1.5 million to local artists and creative organizations since 2020, and this year's application window overlaps with the very festivities it helped make possible.
For movers weighing what day-to-day life in Gwinnett actually looks like, ARTober is a useful data point: a county-run, multi-city arts calendar that's now old enough to have a decade of track record behind it, with new stops added most years rather than the same handful of events repeated. Full event listings and updates run through the month at ExploreGwinnett.org/ARTober.