Denver Chalk Art Festival 2020

The Denver Chalk Art Festival is an award-winning event that transforms historical Larimer Square into a colorful street museum. Over three days, over 200 professional, amateur, and student artists create chalk drawings on the pavement. The festival attracts 175,000 attendees who enjoy food and live music while watching chalk pieces come to life. The event is produced by the Lower Downtown Denver Arts Association (dba Larimer Arts Association), a nonprofit organization established in 1996 dedicated to promoting arts awareness and education in metro Denver.

The festival runs June 5-7, 2020: Friday 5pm-10pm, Saturday 10am-10pm, and Sunday 10am-7pm, with an awards ceremony at 5pm on Sunday. Two participation levels are available: Master level for artists age 18 and up, and Youth Challenge for high school students. All squares are 8'x8'; limited 8'x12' vertical spaces are reserved for 3-D challenge work. Mural teams of 2-3 artists can apply to create 8'x12' horizontal images. Artists must be at least 18 years old and are required to work on their drawings both Saturday and Sunday.

Applications require one image of the proposed chalk drawing and three images of past artwork in any medium. Artwork must be appropriate for public viewing with no advertising, words, symbols, or logos. Only non-oil-based soft chalk and pastels in solid form are permitted. Artists reproducing another living artist's work must obtain written permission. The festival provides one set of 24 soft pastels, water, breakfast and lunch on Saturday and Sunday, and invites all artists to a VIP party Saturday night. Artists are not paid and there is no reimbursement for travel or lodging. The deadline to enter is March 15, 2020, with jury results expected by early April 2020.