San Rafael Italian Street Painting Festival 2009

	San Rafael's 2009 Italian Street Painting Festival Photos by Bruce Bagnoli
	Script for Marinations segment: December 2009 San Rafael Italian Street Painting Festival These pictures were taken at San Rafael’s June 2009 Italian Street Painting Festival brings the ephemeral art long practiced by the Madonnari in Europe to bring delight eyes of some 60,000 visitors to our town. Good food and good music help draw folks and benefit the programs of a local non-profit, Youth in Arts . More than 200 pieces of art created by individual artists or Teams of artists fill the Mission and “Bee” street Plaza with brightly colored chalk and pastel paintings inspired by the renaissance painters, current events, and childhood fantasy. Youth in Arts is a San Rafael non-profit that provides in-school and after-school arts instruction and performances Youth in Arts serves over 20,000 preK-HighSchool students each year. It compensates for the arts programs that were dropped from public schools as taxpayer support for arts education declines. This event is supported by dozens of local citizens and businesses, and brings lots of folks to the downtown. It’s a boon to the local eateries as well. Since the 16th Century, Italian artists have painted on the street, hoping to get contributions from those who pass by. The vagabond artists were called Madonnari since they often painted images of the Madonna in the plaza near a cathedral . The San Rafael festival attracts professional street painters, local artists, amateurs and children painting images that range in size from 6’x12’ down to miniatures. Next summer, mark the second week of June on your calendar for an enjoyable Sunday afternoon excursion in San Rafael..
	Marinations video segment first shown on Community Media Center of Marin Channel 26
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	Additional Links: 2010 festival link: http://www.youthinarts.org/ispf.html Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_painting Martinez September Event http://www.mainstreetmartinez.org/php/ItalianStreetPaintingFest.html Photos of some of the events: http://www.madonnariphoto.com/ Street Painting Society: http://www.streetpaintingsociety.com/home/