Photos Courtesy CityArts
The Orlando Downtown Arts District wants to paint the town—literally —and, in the interest of involving city residents, the effort is worth a good party, too. The second annual Orlando Mural Festival will kick off with food, live music and more on Thursday, September 18, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the district’s monthly Third Thursday event at CityArts.
During the three-day festival, 10 artists will paint murals on movable walls about 7-by-8 feet in size on Magnolia Avenue, while five other artists will create permanent murals on buildings that the owners have agreed to make available for adornment. The artists—all local and selected from applications—will receive a stipend for their work.
In 2024, the district only had one building approved for a mural. Murals add vibrancy to city centers, says Barbara Hartley, the district’s executive director. “We want to add more buildings every year and create great presence with muralists and murals downtown,” she says.
The festival includes two lively street parties, the first on Third Thursday and second right on its heels on Friday, September 19, from 6 to 10 p.m. Two teams of artists will compete in a Team Mural Battle and the winner will be selected by the audience.
At noon on Saturday, September 20, the participating artists will convene at CityArts to discuss their work, and the district will provide guided tours to the newly adorned buildings and a map of the locations. The buildings with murals are located within an area bordered roughly by
Colonial Avenue and South Street.
Last year, the festival drew an estimated 10,000 people. Hartley hopes they’ll return with friends to celebrate this movement to enliven the downtown district with paint and art.
