Sarasota Chalk Festival

Sarasota Chalk Festival
2010 Sarasota Chalk Festival poster for a week-long event, design by Jeff Bleitz
Status	Active
Genre	Festival
Frequency	Annually
Location(s)	Sarasota, Florida
Founded	2007
Organised by	Avenida de Colores, Inc.
Website
http://chalkfestival.org/

Sarasota Chalk Festival is an American cultural event of public art that celebrates a performing art form of pavement art also known as Italian street painting. During the festival artists use chalk, and occasionally special paint, to paint the road surface to create large works of art while the viewer can watch the creative process. The festival is focused around the street artists who are known as Madonnari in Italy or commonly referred to Street Painters, Chalk Artists, Sidewalk Artists, or Pavement Artists. The festival is held annually in downtown Sarasota in Burns Square.

On October 28, 2013 the festival was featured by the New York Times as a destination recommended on its Guide to Intelligent Travel.

In 2010 during its third season, the Sarasota Chalk Festival became the first international street painting festival in the United States of America, inviting artists from around the world to participate. Setting a unique theme for each year was instituted for the planning of each annual event with that year as well. Documenting the origins, diversity, spirit, appeal, and growing popularity of street painting, filming for a 2013 film on modern street painting around the world began with scenes and interviews at the first international Sarasota festival; a video production describing the film was released in February 2012.

A book, Sarasota Chalk Festival (right), was published by the festival organization in time for availability at the 2011 festival. The 214-page book, described as a collector edition, provides an extensive history of the street painting it features and discusses many of the artists who have become famous for performing the art at various locations around the world. Many of these artists were invited to the debut of broadening the scope of the festival to international status. The book provides examples of their work—either here or abroad. Many of the artists return each year, so the material remains timely as well as historic. It also describes the music and arts on Sarasota's "Cultural Coast" and the many attractive Sarasota beaches on the Gulf of Mexico. The book has been available at each festival since its publication and always is available at the festival offices.