Santa Barbara’s Most Picturesque Festival Is Back

A rainbow of chalk-fueled goodwill descends on Mission Santa Barbara once again this weekend, with the return of the 38th annual I Madonnari Street Painting Festival May 25-27. 

The beloved Memorial Day Weekend event is a fundraiser for the Children’s Creative Project (CCP), a nonprofit arts education program of the Santa Barbara County Education Office. The festival raises much-needed funds for K-12 arts education across Santa Barbara County. Over the years, Festival proceeds have been used to sponsor fine arts programs conducted by professional artists during school hours for more than 50,000 children in county public schools. In addition, some of the proceeds go toward resident artists who provide visual and performing arts workshops for more than 38,000 children.

This year’s featured artist is Emily Lostaunau, who has been street painting since 1998, when she started out assisting her sister with a featured painting at the Italian Street Painting Festival in San Rafael. She has participated in our Santa Barbara I Madonnari many times since then. Her featured 2024 painting, which gets the coveted centerpiece space at the bottom of the Old Mission steps, is titled “The Sunday Grays,” an ode to the three gray stallions that she rides and cares for every Sunday. 

Each horse is exceedingly special in his own right, shared Lostaunau. “Veloz (left) is a dressage Grand Prix schoolmaster and epitomizes a strong work ethic and determination. Chupacabra (in the center) is a multiple world title holder and a model; he is sensitive and kind and everything you would imagine a real-life unicorn to be. Chacal (right) is the do-anything, go-anywhere horse, full of strength, power, and fierce courage. They will always make you humble and have one more lesson to teach you if you are willing to learn it.”

She continued, “I always look forward to my happy mornings with the Sunday Grays. These animals tend to imprint themselves on you. They breathe your troubles in and exhale quiet confidence.”

The 2024 I Madonnari is dedicated to education and arts advocate Margie Yahyavi, the former executive director of the Santa Barbara Education Foundation. “As a dear friend of Children’s Creative Project, we were deeply saddened by her passing and the loss of such a beacon of hope and inspiration,” said Kai Tepper-Jahnke, executive director of Children’s Creative Project. “It is an honor to celebrate her legacy and to continue inspiring the next generation of creative thinkers and makers.”

Children’s Creative Project Founder Kathy Koury, who stepped down from that role in 2022, was originally inspired to create the I Madonnari fundraiser by the International Street Painting Competition in Grazie di Curtatone, Italy. CCP produced the first Santa Barbara Festival in 1987 to elevate the arts in the Santa Barbara community while raising much-needed funding for arts education in K-12 schools. It is now widely acknowledged as the first festival of its kind in North America. 

The 2024 edition will have more than 140 chalk pastel street paintings drawn live in front of the Old Mission. The event also features live music from the Brasscals, Mezcal Martini, Mark and the Logistics, and exceptional youth performances from several local junior high and high school jazz bands and choirs. There is also a food market featuring local vendors such as Dave’s Dogs, Elubia’s, and Nimita’s Cuisine, and more.

Throughout the three-day event, more than 600 Kids’ Squares, which include a box of chalk, can be purchased for a donation of just $15. In addition to parking at the Mission, this year, the free Festival will be also accessible via a new Santa Barbara Trolley Route, with pickup points at the Visitor Center on Cabrillo Boulevard and the Santa Barbara Public Library downtown on Anacapa Street.

The festival hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., May 25-27, with a final ceremony at noon on Monday, May 27, on the Mission steps.