East by Southeast Festival of the Arts 2026 in Clarkston

East by Southeast hosts its Festival of the Arts Friday through Sunday, October 16–18, 2026, at the Clarkston Community Center, 3701 College Avenue. The org's own site is the schedule. Vendor markets are free. Performances, workshops, and panels need a ticket, and the lineup is marked subject to change.

Clarkston already uses this building for civic weekends. The International Rice Festival was the September food weekend on the east side. This October run is the arts weekend: film, comedy, dance, and a market you can enter without buying the evening show. Atlanta calendar site 285 South calls it the third iteration.

Friday, October 16, the public schedule lists a free mixer and information fair from 5 to 7 p.m. The vendor page lists Friday's market as 5 to 8 p.m., so treat 7 p.m. as the mixer close and 8 p.m. as the later market hour if both lines are still up when you go. Evening performances start at 7:30 p.m. Friday tickets are $15 online and $20 at the door. Tiger Bomb Comedy, an Atlanta stand-up showcase, is the billed set. Creative Loafing's venue note names hosts Preethi Sundararaman and Kristina Jin. The same evening includes a comedy conversation with Munir Meghjani and David Perdue, plus the winner announcement for Georgia AAPI Hub's Keep It Reel contest.

Saturday's vendor market is free from 2 to 8 p.m. One afternoon ticket is $25 online or $35 at the door and covers that day's workshop block, including a rights session with Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta. The evening ticket is separate, $35 online or $45 at the door, for 7:30 to 11 p.m. The posted bill includes Ruby Velle and Scott Clayton, Angie Acedera and Josh Zilberman, WAACKLANTA, Atlanta Chinese Dance Company, and Mirai Kanai Eisa Taiko, which the site describes as Okinawan dance and drums.

Sunday's vendor market is also listed from 2 to 8 p.m. and does not require a festival ticket. Afternoon tickets are $25 online or $35 at the door. Family programming from 2 to 3 p.m. names Chinatown Mall Theatre Initiative and a story time from Brave + Kind Bookshop. A filmmaking panel that afternoon includes May Tjhang, Tony Poon, and Thang Ho. Sunday evening is $30 online or $40 at the door, 7:30 to 9 p.m., with Improv-is-Asian and Phong Le, Kathleen McManus's "Made in Japan" cabaret, and three shorts: Glen Kwon's BLOOM, Chad Santo Tomas's Ang Pagbabalik, and Muhammad Khaerisman's Khalas.

The same weekend, Nandan Durga Puja is at DeSana Middle School in Alpharetta, with Chandrabindoo live Friday night. That is a puja hall and a concert. Clarkston is panels, a free market, and a ticketed stage. Global Mela in Norcross is the following weekend if you want the bigger shopping festival. You can do a free Clarkston market hour and still drive to Alpharetta for Friday's concert, but the evening tickets do not overlap cleanly.

Our take: walk the market free, then buy one evening. Friday is the comedy door if you want the cheapest ticket. Saturday night is the music and dance bill. Sunday evening is the short-film room.

When: October 16–18, 2026 (markets free; performances ticketed)
Where: Clarkston Community Center, 3701 College Avenue, Clarkston, GA

Schedule and tickets on eastxsoutheast.com.