The Dahl Arts Center has served as a premier western South Dakota arts center for contemporary visual arts, arts education and performing arts since it opened in October 1974. It is a public facility, gifted to Rapid City by Mr. & Mrs. A.E. Dahl, owned by the City of Rapid City and is managed by the Rapid City Arts Council.

The Dahl houses a flexible use event center, five visual arts galleries, an interactive children's gallery, the Cyclorama Mural of American History, the Dahl Artists' Market, classrooms for artists of all ages and abilities and Emerging Artist performing space. This multi-purpose community arts center is used by artists and arts organizations for events, and can be rented out for private and corporate gatherings.

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October 1968

Artists and art supporters incorporated Rapid City Arts Council (RCAC), earning 501(c)(3) status to promote cultural arts in Rapid City and the surrounding communities; umbrella for Allied Arts Fund and Community Theatre.

Art After the Flood

Local business leader, Arndt (Art) Dahl and spouse, Agnes Dahl, donated $500k to the city to establish a municipal arts center serving in part to commemorate the victims of the devastating flood of 1972. Dahl commissions Florida artist, Bernard Thomas, to paint the Cyclorama, a 191-foot painting depicting U.S. economic history.
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It was Dahl's gift to the City of Rapid City, with the request that the management of the facility be under the direction of the Rapid City Arts Council.

October 20, 1974 Dahl Arts Center opens at the corner of 7th & Quincy Street. 

1987 The City of Rapid City passes an ordinance designating RCAC as the agency responsible for advising the city in “expanding the cultural and artistic resources of the people of the Rapid City."

1980s RCAC initiates the Black Hills Bluegrass Festival, Black Hills Jazz and Blues Festival, and Black Hills Heritage Festival.

1993 RCAC facilitates the adoption of the 20-year Rapid City Cultural Plan.

1994 RCAC forms the Public Art Commission under city ordinance to oversee public art projects.

​2001 Rapid City Common Council approves $3.25 million in 2012 Vision Funds to expand the Dahl’s footprint to include event space and arts education complex

2004 The Banff Film Festival World Tour comes to Rapid City.

​2007 RCAC raises an additional $3.75 million from local donors for Dahl expansion. Construction begins.

Expanding Arts for All

A renovation took place in 2009, almost tripling it's size of the Dahl Arts Center. Costing $7.8 million dollars, where $3.25 million dollars of the project was funded by the City's Vision 2012 program. The remainder raised by the RCAC through generous community and foundation support. ​

2011 RCAC partnered with Downtown Rapid City on the Main Street Square sculpture project, the largest privately funded public art project in the country at the time. 

Masayuki (Yuki) Nagase as project artist. Nagase grew up in Japan and is based in Berkeley. Shortly afterward the selection, Yuki traveled to Rapid City for an exhibt of past works and his project plans for Passage of Wind and Water at the Dahl.

2012 RCAC established the Emerging Artists Program to increase resources for artists to develop their careers. RCAC expands the exhibition program and arts education program to serve teens and young adults.

2014 RCAC adds school and community engagement to programming; partners with Destination Rapid City and Main Street Square sculptor to establish Teaching Artists Program in Rapid City schools, which do not offer visual arts education.

2015 Partners with Pennington County to create a mural program for Juvenile Diversion.

2016 RCAC assumes responsibility for the Art Alley permitting system.

2018 RCAC celebrates its 50th anniversary.

2020 RCAC receives a $100K National Endowment for the Arts grant to sustain the organization and programming during the COVID-19 pandemic.

2023 RCAC will develop a new strategic plan to increase access to the arts. Releases Arts & Economic Prosperity study with Americans for the Arts and Arts SD showing the arts make a $204M impact on Rapid City. Receives national grant to support the Juvenile Diversion mural program

​2024 RCAC Commemorates the 50th Anniversary of the Dahl Arts Center. ​​​

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Because of Art Dahl's vision, the Dahl Arts Center continues to thrive today, offering education programs for young people and adults, exhibitions with a special focus on regional, contemporary artists, and support to artists and arts organizations in Rapid City.