The 40th Annual I Madonnari Festival Returns

For one weekend each year, the historic plaza at Old Mission Santa Barbara transforms asphalt into a living canvas of chalk masterpieces, an iconic community tradition that powers arts education in public schools and our region’s creative economy year-round.

The 40th Annual I Madonnari Street Painting Festival, May 23-25, invites the public to experience this one-of-a-kind, free event, featuring more than 150 large-scale chalk artworks, live music, local food, and hands-on creative experiences for all ages.

Beyond the color and celebration, I Madonnari serves a deeper purpose: It is the primary fundraiser for Children’s Creative Project (CCP), a nonprofit of the Santa Barbara County Education Office that places professional artists and arts experiences in public school classrooms across Santa Barbara County.

This milestone year brings back a highly anticipated centerpiece: a “Super Square” collaborative artwork, bringing together five legacy street painters, many of whom have helped define the festival over decades. Spanning the equivalent of six standard squares, the large-scale piece will blend intricate design with a nod to the festival’s Italian roots and its 40-year legacy in Santa Barbara.

“This is the kind of experience that stops people in their tracks,” said CCP Executive Director Kai Tepper-Jahnke. “You’re watching mastery, collaboration, and history unfold … on the ground, in chalk, in real time.”

Internationally recognized chalk artist Marlon Yanes, dubbed the “Pavement Picasso,” is this year’s featured artist, known for pushing the boundaries of street painting with richly detailed, large-scale works.

Proceeds from I Madonnari directly support CCP’s year-round work bringing arts education into public schools through programming that reaches students from preschool through high school, many of whom would otherwise have little or no access to the arts.

In 2025 alone, CCP raised and distributed nearly $700,000 in artists salaries, partnered with 67 professional teaching artists, delivered more than 11,000 hands-on workshops, reached nearly 1,400 classrooms, and provided more than 484,000 minutes of live arts instruction.

“Those numbers represent real moments between students and artists,” said Tepper-Jahnke. “I am one of those students who personally benefited from our organization growing up in Santa Barbara. A student who hasn’t found their place in a traditional classroom suddenly connects through movement, storytelling, music, or visual art. That kind of shift doesn’t happen by chance; it happens because talented professional artists are consistently in the room.”

I Madonnari matters now more than ever. Despite California’s recent support for arts education via Proposition 28, decades of underinvestment have left most schools with significant gaps in access, qualified staffing, and program continuity. According to the National Assembly of State Art Agencies, California still ranks 30th in the nation in per-capita arts funding. 

CCP works to close that gap by placing trained resident and performing artists in classrooms, building long-term partnerships with schools, and creating pathways for students to explore creativity as both expression and potential career.

“For many students, this might be the first time they meet someone who makes a living as an artist,” said Tepper-Jahnke. “It turns the arts from something they watch into something they can step into.”

Learn more, get involved, or support arts education atccp.sbceo.org.