Schedule of Events

Our Schedule

The Madonnari Arts Festival happens over three days, the weekend after Labor Day in September every year in Baltimore, MD. The festival starts that Friday and concludes the following Sunday. The hours of the festival are from 11 am to 8 pm each day with evening hours depending on schedule. Besides the three day event, the Madonnari Arts Festival has a series of projects and events through out the year that includes school out reach and workshops.

The Madonnari Arts Festival is a rain or shine event. Due to our artists traveling from various parts of the world, we are only able to plan for one weekend out of the year. The vast majority of the time our artists are able to with stand the weather and rain to produce their works. In the event of torrential rain which is a full day then the event will be moved indoors.

Winter, Spring and Summer:

The Madonnari Arts Festival begins planning for the three day event in early spring of that year. The Madonnari Arts Festival takes a year to plan and create. Also during the spring and winter of that year, the Madonnari Arts Festival sends professional Madonnari or artists to local school to host workshops and classes for any participating school in the festival. If you are interested in having your school participate in the Madonnari Arts Festival please click on the school section of the menu bar above.

Week Prior to Festival:

The week prior to the Madonnari Arts Festival, our artists and Madonnari arrive to Baltimore and are hosted in hotels through out the city. The Thursday before the festival, we host a sponsors only party with our artists at a private party. The streets are closed off and our events is laid out for our Madonnari.

Friday:

Friday is the first day of the Madonnari Arts Festival. Our artists begin work on their 10 x 10 foot squares. Prior to the artists beginning their work, we have the Blessing of the Chalk. The Blessing of the Chalk is a tradition for Madonnari where our local priest selects one of our Madonnari to receive blessed chalks to create their image.

Also during Friday we have live music that is played on our main stage through out the day during the festival. We have live music everyday. If you are interested in performing at the Madonnari Arts Festival, please contact us.

Saturday:

Saturday is one of the biggest days of the Madonnari Arts Festival. Our artists continue to work on their chalk drawings as well as having live music being played on our main stage and through out the festival grounds. Saturday is the first day of our art market where visitors can find hand crafted items for sale from local artisans and artists. If you are interested in selling work in our art market please click the art market button in the above menu. The Madonnari Arts Festival also has live street performers performing through out the day on Saturday and Sunday.

At 11 am we also open up the Children’s Chalk Center where children from any age can get a free box of chalk and work on our Kids Chalking Area. The Children’s Chalk center is open Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm.

Sunday:

Sunday is the final day of the Madonnari Arts Festival. Through out the day we have the art market, live music, and local street performers. At around 2 pm our judges go out to see the completed street paintings and chalk art to judge for our prizes in the Contemporary, Classical and School categories. At 4 pm we announce our Madonnari Winners on our main stage.