Special Event

Chalk Festival

Saturday, September 20, 2025, 12:00–5:00 p.m.
Sunday, September 21, 2025, 12:00–5:00 p.m.

Location: Fine Arts Garden

$15 small square (includes a 12-count box of chalk pastels), $20 large square (includes a 24-count box of chalk pastels).

About The Event

The Chalk Festival features sidewalk artistry by professional chalk artists and local community groups, families, and individuals, all using the CMA’s south plaza and walkways that wind through the Fine Arts Garden and down to Wade Lagoon as a colorful canvas.

The Chalk Festival is a modern expression of a Renaissance tradition from 16th-century Italy in which artists copied paintings of the Madonna by Raphael and his contemporaries using chalk on the plazas outside cathedrals.

Everyone can participate at the Chalk Festival! To chalk your own square, purchase a square of pavement (chalk pastels included) at the registration tent: $15 small square (includes a 12-count box of chalk pastels), $20 large square (includes a 24-count box of chalk pastels).

The CMA reserves the right to cover any work that contains a political message, hate speech, or other content that may be inappropriate for a family-friendly program.

Sponsors

All education programs at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Education. Major annual support is provided by Brenda and Marshall Brown, Mr. and Mrs. Walter E. Fortney, David and Robin Gunning, Dieter and Susan M. Kaesgen, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, Gail C. and Elliott L. Schlang, Shurtape Technologies, and the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation. Generous annual support is provided by Gini and Randy Barbato, the M. E. and F. J. Callahan Foundation, Dr. William A. Chilcote Jr. and Dr. Barbara S. Kaplan, Char and Chuck Fowler, the Giant Eagle Foundation, Robin Heiser, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., Bill and Joyce Litzler, the Logsdon Family Fund for Education, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, the Sally and Larry Sears Fund for Education Endowment, Roy Smith, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Trilling Family Foundation, and the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art.