The Downtown Arts Association (DADA) is a 501(c)(3) non profit organization consisting of visual and performing artists, businesses and residents.​

The DADA “footprint” includes a variety of artist’s studios, galleries, shops, retail businesses, restaurants, bars and residences located in this eclectic area of Downtown Winston-Salem, North Carolina located between 5th, 7th and Trade Streets.

Begun in 1995 and an official non-profit in January 1998 DADA began to raise awareness of the arts community and the growing “Arts District”. Through its signature “DADA 1st Friday Gallery Hop” and co-sponsorship of various city events, DADA has infused the downtown with new life and energy, helping to build the arts district itself into a vibrant community.

In the DADA mission statement is the goal of “alter conventional perceptions about downtown–just as the post-WWI abstract art movement of the same name set out to emancipate the imagination.”