Downtown Orlando gets a glow-up this weekend, as the Orlando Mural Festival comes in to paint the town red (and orange and yellow and, well, you get the point).
Local and international visual artists, as well as musicians, creators and vendors will gather Saturday at the CityArts Gallery and in Thornton Park Market. People can also watch as fifteen artists create new large-scale murals all across downtown.
Barbara Hartley is the Executive Director of the Downtown Arts District. She said the free festival has come a long way in just three years, especially since its beginnings - like many great works of art - broke a few rules.
“At the time we didn't have permission, or walls,” said Hartley, “so we did 30 eight-by-eight-foot murals along Magnolia at the History Center. It was really such a great connection, with all the artists coming together to create at the same time.”
Since then, festival artists have painted eight permanent murals on walls throughout downtown Orlando. In fact, they’re now part of a walking tour of area murals offered by the City of Orlando via a downloadable app.
And after this weekend’s three-day festival, Hartley said, there will be ten more permanent murals to see. “The enthusiasm from [downtown] business owners has been tremendous. This year we have some repeat customers that have other buildings they also want painted.”
The festival itself starts Thursday evening with an exhibition at the CityArts gallery in conjunction with the Downtown Arts District’s monthly Third Thursday events. By Saturday, expect live mural painting, music performances and vendors in the gallery’s courtyard along with full-scale activations across downtown. Six of the new permanent murals will adorn walls throughout downtown’s central business district, and four will decorate Thornton Park.
Hartley said there are financial benefits to the presence of a mural on a building, as well as aesthetic ones. “It tends to increase the value of properties and businesses,” she noted. “So, there is really a positive effect around creating this sense of place-making through murals and art in your spaces.”
This placemaking creates community around the presence of art and brings people into the heart of Orlando. “While they're downtown, they park, they go to restaurants, they might check out a new bar, or new retail in the area,” said Hartley. “So it really just is a way to bring people together and create economic development through the arts.”
