Starting today, New York City’s vibrant art scene lures people to Dumbo for the Dumbo Arts Festival, one of the most exceptionally curated public events of the year. Lasting until Sept. 28, the three days of festivities are for the intellectually and artistically curious and who wish to marvel at the brilliance of the creativity of the city. Like a Fellini movie, the festival is fragmented into hundreds of dreamlike images that, when seen together, somehow create an immensely personal yet universal experience.

The art found at this year’s festival could not be more dynamic. From luxurious landscape paintings by Andrea Biggs to abstract performance art by Yikwon Kim, the offerings of the festival are endless.

The festival even turns Dumbo into a canvas of its own. There are video projections on the bottom of the Manhattan Bridge and intricately planned graffiti on brick walls throughout the area as part of the festival’s series “Dumbo Walls.” Between two of these beautiful creations is Debbie Han’s gallery of Greek-inspired sculptures with a modern feminist twist or Stephan Killen’s dark and dreamy pinhole photographs of New York City that resemble a film noir-era Paris.

Some of the artwork at the festival has social and political importance. “A Beautiful Rebellion” celebrates South Africa’s independence with a sequence of avant-garde fashion shows. In “By Day, By Night,” a group of four New York photographers and designers tackle the harsh and wonderful reality of living in the city.

The artists have documented the uncountable number of New York dreamers that explore their passions while working a completely different job to pay the bills. The festival is home to any and all subjects and media — there are metaphysical renderings of the cosmos, dramatic poetry readings and even dancing.

Supplementing the festival are the offerings of the area itself. Within a five-minute walk from Dumbo is the Brooklyn Bridge Park along the water, the world-famous Brooklyn Ice Cream factory next to it and the quintessential New York pizzeria Grimaldi’s, which often draws two-hour entrance lines.

The offerings of Dumbo are collectively a microcosm of New York’s art, music and food. The festival serves to enhance these treasures. The glowing lights of Manhattan’s Financial District across the East River at night illuminates the enchanting experience.

The festival celebrates the multinational city and the infinite creators that have migrated here in the pursuit of dreams. But, more than anything else, the Dumbo Arts Festival is a celebration of a common international tongue that we all speak and try to understand: art.

Email Daniel Lieberson at [email protected].