The Sarasota Chalk Festival is quickly approaching so plan your trip now for the November 8 - 10, 2024 festivities!

The Chalk Festival, a jubilation of art and culture, is recognized for hosting the world’s largest gathering of Internationally renowned pavement artists. Founded in 2007, the festival invites artists to travel to Sarasota County to create masterpieces in chalk. The artist hail from 30+ countries, the furthest being Australia and Japan.

For its 18th iteration, the Festival will bring for the first time to the United States multiple delegations of “Infiorata” and “Rangoli” artists together. These artists create carpets using flowers, sand, and other natural materials in an act of devotion. Dubbed “Floralia Infiorata,” this exhibition will represent an important moment of cultural exchange introducing North American art lovers to these centuries-old artistic traditions.

Both the pavement artists and floral carpet artists create ephemeral works of art using the road surface as their canvas in a real open-air museum. Spectators become an integral part of the artist's creative process as the observer of these fleeting artistic expressions.

“Our Founding Director, Denise Kowal, has studied ephemeral carpets and their purpose in different cultures for many years. She’s traveled to infiorata festivals in Italy and Brussels and Spain (as a guest speaker), and seen rangoli artists in India. We are thrilled to be the first festival in the U.S. to introduce patrons to this particular art,” Bill Baranowski, Chalk Festival Managing Director, said. 

Avenida de Colores, the parent organization of the Chalk Festival, has partnered with delegations that boast a long and prestigious tradition in the history of artistic infiorate from Genzano di Roma (Italy), Gerno (Italy), La Orotava, Tenerife (Spain), Hachijo-machi Hachijojima, Tokyo (Japan), Pune, Maharashtra (India), Guilianova (Italy), and Huamantla (Mexico) for this international meeting.

“ Floralia Infiorata promises to be a great artistic manifestation with devotional origins in the Baroque period. It will be a meeting point for different cultures that, in a very unique way, use flowers, sawdust, sand and other natural materials to create what is recognized as flower carpets, "Infiorata" in Italian and “Rangoli” in India, and its derivative ‘ephemeral carpets,” states Carbone. Eduardo Carbone from Argentina, is an international researcher and broadcaster specializing in ephemeral carpets. 

Please mark your calendar to join us November 8-10, 2024. 

Chalk Festival is not just about art on pavements; it's a canvas for cultivating community, nurturing mental well-being, and sparking innovation. Through global collaboration, we weave a tapestry of diverse voices, encouraging critical thinking skills and enriching lives with science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. Join us in making chalk dreams a reality!