Head to the ZACC between the hours of 5 and 8 PM on Friday, December 3, and experience a magical holiday wonderland! Attendees will be given easy to follow maps at entry, and ZACC staff and Santa’s elves will be on hand to give tours of our three-story downtown building. Our 2021 Holiday Open House includes a variety of free – and super fun – activities for folks of all ages, including ornament painting, screenprinting (just bring your own T-shirt!), card-making, and THREE Santa Selfie Stations (complete with hilariously candid, life-size Santa cardboard cut-outs). There will also be two completely free live performances in our Show Room, with Cory Fay & the Good Goddamn returning for a second installment of their tragicomic holiday show from 5:30 to 6:30 PM (they live-streamed from the ZACC in December 2020, and they can’t wait to perform in-person for real people!), and Margi Cates & Nick Barr performing from 7 to 8 PM to round out the evening. And for your additional merriment, our Show Room bar will be open, with beer, wine, cider, and non-alcoholic options.

In addition to the free festivities, our annual Friends & Family Show is opening that night in the Main Gallery, with an array of affordable artwork made with love by artists who love the ZACC. Every year this show includes dozens of local and regional artists with works spanning all price points, so there really is something for everyone. Reclaim / e? x?lx?ilt, works by Monica Gilles-Brings Yellow, will be featured in our Blackfoot Communications Gallery. Monica’s work is layered, complex, and stunningly beautiful, and uses historical images of Indigenous people in the hopes of offering a platform to discuss the resilience, importance, and impact Native people’s lives have had on present day society. Missoula Bird Nerds, drawings and paintings of birds by Dottie Moon Angilan Herring and Lucy Jones Niamin Herring, will be featured in our Youth Gallery.

Last but certainly not least, our Artist Shop (full of thoughtful, locally made gift ideas) will be open and stocked with perfect presents for anyone on your list. This very special annual Holiday Open House is totally free, though we would very much appreciate your consideration of an end-of-year donation to the ZACC. Masks are required.