Deep Ellum Art Company

Deep Ellum Art Company is a 600-person standing room in Dallas, with seating for 300. Its concert floor shares a 5,000-square-foot creative facility with a projection-mapped gallery, while its 15,000-square-foot Art Yard gives shows an outdoor counterpart of murals, food trucks and space to decompress. For a night out, the draw is that split personality: a modest concert room joined to a working visual-art campus.

Built for a different plan

John and Kari LaRue established Deep Ellum Art Co. in 2015, first imagining a restaurant; the pair redirected the project toward music and art, opening the doors on September 1, 2017. The 1949 building had served a local dealership as an auto-parts and service center, then a printing-press repair shop. Permitting pushed the anticipated launch from June, and local Grateful Dead tribute act Forgotten Space led the first scheduled bill.

The precarious side arrived in February 2021, when John LaRue said pandemic restrictions, drained revenue and the Texas winter storm had placed closure on the horizon. A stronger document of the room’s musical use came in 2022: Snarky Puppy recorded its live album Empire Central there, with the band’s name attached to a purpose-built Dallas session instead of a routine tour stop.

The live setup

Art Co. programs broad bills and pitches itself as a platform for local creatives; its early stated music focus ran to jam bands, Americana and bluegrass, while current listings reach indie, pop, rock, electronic, jazz, Latin, alternative and folk. The venue operates seven days a week. Inside, the nearly 60-foot bar faces an interior that combines gallery and stage; outdoors, the Art Yard operates as a second zone for markets, murals and food trucks. That separation helps a concert night move between sets while keeping the room’s social energy intact.