Artomatic is a month-long multimedia arts event that draws together visual artists, musicians and performers and brings their work to the community without charge.

It was originally conceived as a way to break down the geographical and social segmentation of the Washington arts scene, to bring art directly to the public and to build cohesion among artists. The city's ongoing development in recent years has diffused the arts community by breaking up pockets of artist studios. In addition, local artists are sometimes overshadowed by national blockbuster shows and federal landmarks. Artomatic provides a forum for all of our area's artists to convene, perform and exhibit, strengthening the visibility, cohesion, and marketplace of Washington's arts community.

Artomatic began in 1999 in the historic Manhattan Laundry building. A dozen or so artists originally toured the empty building and within a month, three hundred and fifty artists had cleaned, lit, painted and colonized the 100,000 square feet. Over 20,000 visitors attended the first Artomatic over 6 weeks.

From there, it grew organically, as buildings were made available to Artomatic by community developers. Music and performance of all kinds were added. In 2000, 665 artists exhibited and 200 performed at the old Hechinger’s building; more than 1000 artists and performers took part in 2002 at the Southwest Waterfront and even more in 2004 at the old Capitol Children’s Museum in Northeast. The number of visitors has also more than doubled to over 40,000. Artomatic made a stop in Virginia for the first time in 2007, occupying a former Patent and Trademark space. It drew over 40,000 visitors.