Avenida de Colores, Inc.

First international street painting festival in the U.S.

While pursuing its mission to create cultural events, in 2010, the Avenida de Colores made history by producing the first international street painting festival in the United States, called the Sarasota Chalk Festival. Street painting festivals started in the United States in 1987, but this festival was the first to attract many of the best street painting artists from all over the world to participate. The festival had notable Guinness World Record holders Edgar Mueller from Germany, Leon Keer from Netherlands, and Tracy Lee Stum from the USA. Genna Panzarella from the USA, who was the first woman to receive Italy's honorable Maestra Madonnari title at the International Grazi di Curtatone competition, participated as well as Vera Bugatti from Italy, who also holds the Maestra Madonnari title. Maestro Madonnaro Edgar Mueller created a 100' x 40' 3-D street painting that is the first known contemporary street painting that metamorphosed from one image to another with the change from day to night because the painter used photoluminescent paints. The Sarasota Chalk Festival also was the first street painting festival to have a Halloween-theme for the artists work as well as three over-sized 3-D installations, one of which incorporating two-point perspective.

A book (right) entitled, Sarasota Chalk Festival, was published by Avenida de Colores following the 2010 festival. Exceeding two hundred pages, the book provides an extensive history of the street painting it features at the festival and discusses many of the artists who have become famous for performing the art at various locations around the world. Many of these artists performed at the debut of the new international status of the festival. The book provides examples of their work—either here or abroad, some being works produced at the 2010 festival, which had a festive Halloween theme. The book also describes the music and arts present in Sarasota, which has earned the area the reputation as the "Cultural Coast" of Florida. It also presents information about many of the attractive Sarasota beaches has on the Gulf of Mexico. This book has been available at each festival since its publication and is available at the festival offices throughout the year.

Sarasota Chalk Festival History

As president of the Burns Square Property Owners Association, Inc., in 2007, Kowal founded a nonprofit corporation, the Avenida de Colores Chalk Festival, a street painting festival held on South Pineapple Avenue in the downtown Sarasota historic area known as Burns Square. Only twenty-two artists participated in this first festival. Lori Escalera, a leading modern Madonnari from the USA was the only professional street painter who participated.

In 2009, the second Avenida de Colores Chalk Festival was held with approximately one hundred street painters participating, who were drawn from all over the USA, and more than two hundred local stage performers.

In 2010, the Burns Square Property Owners Association relinquished the Avenida de Colores Chalk Festival to the Avenida de Colores nonprofit corporation. The street painting festival was renamed the Sarasota Chalk Festival and has grown into one of the most important street painting festivals in the world. The festival expanded several blocks in Burns Square to accommodate the two hundred and fifty street painters who participated, being drawn from all over the world, which made the Sarasota Chalk Festival the first international street painting festival in the United States.