For a city that defines itself on innovation and creativity, Seattle is no stranger to art. Take our new rainbow crosswalks, our monthly neighborhood art walks, 4Culture’s many community art programs, and the dozens of galleries spanning the city, including the 82-year-old Seattle Art Museum.

What we’ve lacked, however, has been an event assembling pieces from top local and international venues in one place with the opportunity for purchase—until now. Enter the Seattle Art Fair, coming at the end of the month to CenturyLink Field Event Center and other sites across town.

“This region has a thriving and fast-growing public arts program that is renowned for its integration of artists and ideas into the living design of the city,” Max Fishko, Director of the Seattle Art Fair, says.  “We came to the realization that Seattle [needed] a platform to showcase the vibrant culture and diversity of the Pacific Northwest.”

Based on similar fairs in New York, San Francisco and beyond, the Seattle Art Fair is a partnership between New York-based Art Market Productions and Paul Allen’s Vulcan Inc. At CenturyLink Field Event Center from Thursday, July 30 through Sunday, August 2, you’ll find contemporary art from approximately 60 local, regional and international galleries, including the worldwide Gagosian Gallery and New York’s David Zwirner and Paul Kasmin Galleries. There will also be a hands-on Creative Lab where visitors “can explore new technologies and their influence on arts mediums, methods, and processes,” Fishko says, including drone painting presented by Addie Wagenknecht and virtual reality artwork by Micah Ganske.

“The concept [for the Seattle Art Fair] came in part from looking not only at the grande dame that is Venice, where exhibitions happen in every nook and cranny of the walking city, but also at smaller-scale, more imitable events like Prospect New Orleans and the Berlin Biennale,” Fishko says.

Our city’s Fair will particularly highlight work from the Pacific Northwest, the Pacific Rim and Asia. About half of its exhibitors come from this region, including James Harris, and others such as the Tokyo-based KaiKai Kiki, will represent the influence that Asia has on Seattle. See a full list of participating galleries here.

Along with the CenturyLink exhibition, the Fair also includes six off-site location containing numerous pieces under the theme Experiments: Pure Research, partly inspired by Allen’s visits to biennales across the world. On South Lake Union, find an interior installation at MadArt by local artist Julie Alpert on display June 17 through September 3, and an outdoor neon LED text piece by London artist Robert Montgomery at ALL RISE, lit July 25 from 8 to 10 p.m. At Volunteer Park, see a life-sized diorama by Portland’s Wendy Red Star from July 31 through August 2 and at Myrtle Edwards park a large-scale temporary sculpture that references Rene Magritte’s “The Human Condition” is on view July 30-August 2.

The final element of the Fair is Talk Contemporary lecture series. The first three lectures are hosted by the Seattle Art Museum this month, in which artists Joshua Sofaer (July 15), Victoria Sambunaris (July 22), and Maya Lin (July 29) will engage audiences on issues like sustainability and climate change. The final lecture in the Talk Contemporary series is by Natalie Jeremijenko and will take place at the Seattle Art Fair on Saturday afternoon. See the full schedule of talks on the SAM’s July events schedule here.

The Seattle Art Fair’s main event at CenturyLink will kick off with a preview on Thursday, July 30, from 6 to 10 p.m., open to Patron VIP from 6 to 8 p.m. and VIP ticket holders from 8 to 10 p.m., with proceeds benefiting the Washington-based Artist Trust. The exhibits will then be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, July 31, through Sunday, August 2 (12-6 p.m.) . A VIP ticket including entrance to the Thursday night preview, all three days of exhibitions, and other perks costs $150; a three-day ticket (Friday through Sunday) runs $35, and a one-day ticket is $20. Purchase tickets here.

“By being [financially] accessible to all types of galleries and creating relationships with regional cultural partners, the Seattle Art Fair [has a] vision to support a community of innovative creative thinkers and makers,” Fishko says. “The inaugural fair will expand the impact art has on the city, the region and the Pacific Rim. It will change the way Seattle experiences art, and the way the art community experiences Seattle.”