Author: ArtsFairfax

Join over 400 business professionals, elected officials, and arts and community leaders to celebrate local arts in Fairfax County!

The 2025 ArtsFairfax Awards, the region’s premier event to honor major arts contributions in Fairfax, will honor U.S. Air Force Retired General Lester L. Lyles with the Jinx Hazel Award, Tim Rizer with the Philanthropy Award, the Iranian American Community Center-Pars Place with the Impact Award, and Marco Rando of South Lakes High School with the Education Award.

With a reception, luncheon, and awards ceremony held at the Hyatt Regency in Reston, the fundraising event will be emceed by four-time TV news Emmy winner Peggy Fox and feature an Iranian string performance by Narmin Adiban and a vocal performance by Sopranessence, one of ArtsFairfax’s newest Operating Support Grant recipients.

2025 ArtsFairfax Awards
Friday, October 24, 2025
11:15am – 2:00pm

Hyatt Regency Reston
1800 Presidents Street
Reston, VA 20190

Tickets are available at ArtsFairfax.org/Awards through Friday, October 3, 2025.

As Fairfax County’s local arts agency, ArtsFairfax serves more than 200 arts and culture nonprofits by distributing County funds to the arts, and connects artists and arts organizations to each other and to other sectors.

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Proceeds from the Awards provide direct support to ArtsFairfax as the County’s sole grant maker dedicated to arts funding, as well as the nonprofit’s public art initiatives and services for individual artists in response to the recently conducted Fairfax Regional Artist Survey, the first study of its kind in the County.

The event’s Visionary Sponsor is the Reston Community Center with Lead Sponsorship by McGuireWoods.

There is so much public art to discover in Fairfax!☀️ From now through September 30, ArtsFairfax invites art enthusiasts to join the Public Art Locator Challenge, a social media scavenger hunt and local arts adventure!

How to Play

The Challenge is easy – take a photo with public art across Fairfax County, tag @ArtsFairfax, and use the hashtag #PublicArtLocatorChallenge for a chance to win gift cards and show tickets from cultural partners throughout Fairfax.

🎨Visit ArtsFairfax.org or the button below for full participation guidelines.

What is The Public Art Locator?

The ArtsFairfax Public Art Locator is a free, interactive web application designed to empower users with the ability to identify the public art they experience day to day. The application geotags the location and invites the user to offer any insight they may have on the project, including a photo, the artist, title of the work, and materials used. Launched in 2023, the Locator has already crowdsourced over 200 works of street art, murals, and sculptures in Fairfax County.

What is Public Art?

Public Art is any visual or performing art experience–temporary or permanent–that is available in a public setting and accessible both day and night. The Public Art Locator is moderated by ArtsFairfax staff to verify tagged art, fact check, and maintain a digital environment that is appropriate and enjoyable for all ages.

By gamifying the Public Art Locator, ArtsFairfax wants to celebrate the art that makes Northern Virginia unique AND identify new opportunities for public art installation in our region.

Public art is all around us – you just have to find it!🗺️📍