Mission Fed ArtWalk – the largest and longest running fine art festival in Southern California – is back this spring, celebrating both visual and performing arts in San Diego. The event also brings several interactive components to fully experience creativity in San Diego’s Little Italy on Saturday, April 26 and Sunday, April 27, 2025. From participating in community art projects to experimenting and creating with new mediums, there is something for everyone.
“We believe art has the power to connect communities, cultivate new artistic talent and create a better quality of life for all through cultural enrichment,” said Curt Brooker, Director of ArtWalk San Diego. “The festival brings thousands together to view and purchase artwork, supporting both local artists and those in town for the festival, but also to enjoy live music, and participate in interactive art experiences.”
Interactive Community Exhibits:
- Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise. What are your goals for 2025? Stop by Mission Fed Credit Union’s fun and inspiring interactive art project at the Piazza della Famiglia! Share your aspirations, get creative, and be inspired by the goals of others while tapping into your personal best.
- Under the Little Italy sign, step inside Sarah Stieber’s Integration Paintings! In this series, all our different identities are represented as transparent overlapping circles, and YOU will have the opportunity to step inside of the Integration Booth at Mission Fed ArtWalk to create your own self-portrait!
Family Friendly Make & Takes:
Both Saturday & Sunday:
- KidsWalk is a hands-on art experience at the festival. Bring the family and participate in fun and creative art experiences provided by arts education groups throughout San Diego County who believe that all children need art.
- San Diego Unified School District’s VAPA Department and participating schools (CPMA Middle School, Freese Elementary, SDSCPA, and Webster Elementary) will provide a variety of creative activities designed to inspire and educate participants of all ages! Visitors can participate in mask-making, contribute to a collaborative mobile chalk mural, tackle a STEAM balancing challenge or explore dot-making, alongside mindfulness mandalas. Discover the vibrant creativity of our UTK-12 students through their artwork display and celebrate the enriching power of arts in education!
- Blick Art Materials will be demonstrating an art project using carved linoleum blocks and water-based inks. After applying ink to the carved blocks with a brayer, the blocks are pressed onto paper or fabric to create a custom collaged art print. Visit their booth space in front of their Little Italy storefront, located at 1844 India Street.
Give Back:
- Be sure to visit this year’s ArtReach San Diego’s Charity Art Auction; ArtReach is ArtWalk San Diego’s non-profit partner. ArtReach aims to increase equity in visual arts education in K-8 schools throughout San Diego County by delivering free or low-cost workshops to schools that have no other resources for art, focusing on Title I Schools. Many of the programs ArtReach offers are provided at no cost to schools.
The Art Auction is now live, but visit in-person at the festival, where people can bid on one-of-a-kind surfboards, guitars, and skateboards transformed by 25 local artists. Each bid helps support free arts education for youth in San Diego who do not otherwise have access to visual arts opportunities.
Take the Trolley for Free!
- MTS has generously provided art lovers with free day passes during Mission Fed ArtWalk weekend, available for the first 3,000 people who download (one pass per person). San Diegans are asked to download and show the pass on their phone. Tickets are good for all Trolley lines; both the blue and green lines take you to ArtWalk. Disembark at the “County Center/Little Italy” stop, adjacent to the event. Walk east on Beech to being your exploration. Attendance is free.
The yearly art festival is brought to San Diego by the same team that bring ArtWalk @ Liberty Station to the ARTS DISTRICT in Liberty Station (this year, Aug. 1-3, 2025), ArtWalk Carlsbad to North County (this year, Sept. 20-21, 2025), and Bella Vita, the newest event, a street chalk art event with Italian wine, also in Little Italy (this year, Oct. 18-19, 2025). Each of ArtWalk San Diego’s festivals support ArtReach San Diego.
Mission Fed ArtWalk attracts 100,000 art collectors and visitors from all over the country to purchase art from established and emerging artists during the two-day festival, located throughout San Diego’s Little Italy neighborhood.
For more information on ArtWalk and its programs, please visit ArtWalk San Diego’s new website, www.missionfedartwalk.org.
Recent Comments