On Bolm Road, past the rail spurs and warehouse lots, there is a row of loading bays numbered 8, 9 and 10. The official tour listing calls this complex the historic birthplace of the East Austin Studio Tour. On Nov. 14 the bays open again, with an outdoor art market, art on every open wall, workshops, guided tours and artist talks.
The event no longer has "East" in its name. Since 2025 it has been the Austin Studio Tour, a free, citywide event over two weekends: Nov. 14–15 and Nov. 21–22, 2026, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. East Austin used to get one weekend. Now its biggest venues are open on all four days, and both places that sell the printed guidebook are in East Austin.
What changed, and what the east side kept
For most of the tour's history it was split into an East Austin weekend and a West Austin weekend. Last year, KUT reported that the tour was going citywide on both weekends for the first time, with artists choosing which days they participate. The producer changed too. Glasstire reported that Big Medium ran the tour from 2007 to 2024 before handing it off. The new producer is Almost Real Things, which had taken part in the tour since 2016. This is its second year in charge.
The tour is bigger under the new format. In their 2026 letter, the producers count 815 artists, art groups and hosts at 309 locations across the city and call this year the largest the tour has been. Spreading that across Austin could have pulled attention away from the east side. Three things kept it here. The organizers' gallery is at Canopy, the biggest complex is at Canopy, and the birthplace is still on Bolm Road.
The three complexes with the most open doors
This year's directory is organized and numbered by physical location, with host venues gathering many participants under one address. In East Austin, three addresses hold most of the people.
| Venue | Address | Tour location no. | What the listing promises | Open |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canopy | 916 Springdale Rd. | 18 | Nearly 100 open studios, galleries and art market vendors, plus live music and a bar | All four tour days |
| Almost Real Things Studios & Gallery | 2324 E. Cesar Chavez St. | 101 | 18 resident studios and 15+ guest artists in the gallery | Tour hours |
| Bolm Studios | 5305 Bolm Rd., Bays 8–10 | 112 | 40+ artists, three galleries, outdoor market, workshops, talks | All four tour days |
Canopy is the largest single stop. The complex is a former Goodwill warehouse with 89 studios, five galleries, creative offices, retail and a café. Glasstire notes that it was also Big Medium's headquarters, so the tour's center moved only within the same property. Almost Real Things runs its tour hub at the ART Gallery in Building 2, Suite 101. Also at Canopy, the ICOSA Collective Gallery is showing the ICOSA Annual, a juried group show selected from an open call. Dennis Nance, curator at the Galveston Arts Center, is this year's juror.
2324 E. Cesar Chavez St. is Almost Real Things' own studio building. Mural Supply Co. has a separate listing downstairs at the same address.
Bolm Studios is under new leadership this year: artists Zac the Maker and Stephanie Mervine. Its three galleries are Bolm Arts Gallery, the Crow's Nest Micro Gallery and a new flex-space gallery. The listing names about 30 participating artists, including Adam Robinson, Alie Jackson, Elyse Gomez, Karla Armendariz, Phokus and Veronica Ceci.
The two weekends offer different things on the east side
The old one-weekend format meant one pass through the neighborhood. With four days, the east side's dated events now fall on different weekends, so each weekend has its own reasons to go.
First weekend, Nov. 14–15. The tour's event calendar lists several free events at location 84, 2606 E. 2nd St.
- Sat., Nov. 14, 11 a.m. "Put a Grackle On It" is a one-hour wood-block printing workshop. Printing a grackle on a canvas patch is free, and blank tees are $15.
- Sat., Nov. 14 and Sun., Nov. 15, starting 11 a.m. Free flash tattoos.
- Sun., Nov. 15, 11 a.m. to noon. "Stacked Sunday Breakfast," with free pancakes and a Bloody Mary bar.
Second weekend, Nov. 21–22. ICOSA Collective plans a live aluminum pour in the Canopy parking lot on the tour's second Saturday, which is Nov. 21 on the official schedule. Since Canopy and Bolm Studios are both open on all four days, a first-weekend visit to either one can be repeated on the second weekend for the pour without missing the studios.
Smaller hosts between the anchors
Between the three big complexes, the host directory lists smaller east-side stops along the corridors residents already use.
- Springdale Road: Art For The People Gallery at 1023 Springdale Rd., Building 2A, and Clover + Maven in Building 6D at the same address.
- East Cesar Chavez: Splinter Group at 3508 E. Cesar Chavez St., Suite 100, and the East Austin Alleyway Art Crawl at 1717 E. Cesar Chavez St.
- East 4th through 7th: Red Line Studios at 1309 E. 4th St., Factory on 5th at 3409 E. 5th St., Artful Living. at 3415 E. 5th St., Haus Obscura at 2511 E. 6th St., and WURSTA & the wrst gallery at 1021 E. 7th St., location 14.
- Rosewood and Chicon area: Quimera Gallery at 1815 Rosewood Ave., Pink Box Studios at 1613 J.J. Seabrook Dr. and Ditto Hands & Friends at 1708 Sanchez St.
- Farther east and north: Boggy Creek Farm Art Market at 3414 Lyons Rd., Raasin in the Sun Studios at 3515 Manor Rd., Slowpoke Tattoo @Camp East at 2905 E. 12th St. and Zeros Art Collective Vendor Market at 4707 Gonzales St.
Two community spaces near the river are also listed: the Native American Cultural Center at 84 Robert T. Martinez Jr. St., location 19, and the Austin Liberation Center at 501 Pedernales St., Suite 1B, location 16. In the directory, many smaller hosts list all four dates, but some list fewer. HowMuch?! Studios in North Austin, for example, opens only on Nov. 15, 21 and 22. Check each host's days before you build a route around it.
One east-side Saturday, start to finish
Here is a first-weekend route using only the listings above, in order of opening times and where the guidebook is sold.
- 11 a.m., 2606 E. 2nd St. Arrive for the grackle printing workshop when it opens on Nov. 14.
- 2324 E. Cesar Chavez St. Buy the $12 printed guidebook here. Then see the 18 resident studios, the guest artists in the gallery and Mural Supply Co. downstairs.
- Rosewood Avenue. Stop at Quimera Gallery on the way north.
- 916 Springdale Rd. Allow the most time for Canopy, where nearly 100 studios and vendors open at once, with music and a bar. Start at the ART Gallery and the ICOSA Annual.
- 5305 Bolm Rd., before 5 p.m. End at Bays 8–10 for the outdoor market and the three galleries at the tour's original home.
On the second weekend, the same route works with Canopy moved earlier in the day to catch the Nov. 21 aluminum pour.
Before you go
The tour is free. Some special programming may carry a charge. The printed guidebook runs 376 pages and costs $12. During tour hours it is sold at the two East Austin hubs, ART Studios & Gallery at 2324 E. Cesar Chavez St. and ART Gallery at Canopy, and it can also be ordered online. The official site has an interactive map and searchable profiles for every participant. Its accessibility page lets you filter for step-free entry, accessible restrooms and parking, seating, sensory-friendly spaces, ASL and service-animal access.
At Walker Residential Group, we follow the east side through its studios and warehouse conversions as closely as through its sales. If touring Springdale and Bolm Roads has you wondering what your own East Austin home is worth, start with an Instant Home Valuation.
