Signature Events
Parade the Circle and Chalk Festival, CMA’s annual signature community programs, provide opportunities for artists and community members to work side by side creating art together.
Parade the Circle
Parade the Circle, one of Cleveland’s most impactful cultural events, is an annual art parade that fills Wade Oval with lively sounds and colors, featuring innovative costumes, giant puppets, and handmade masks created by artists, families, schools, and community groups. Watching the parade is free for all.
Individuals, families, schools, and neighborhood and community groups are all invited to participate. Create your parade entry on your own or at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s public workshops.
Chalk Festival
The Chalk Festival features sidewalk artistry by professional chalk artists and local community groups, families, and individuals, all using the CMA’s south plaza and walkways that wind through the Fine Arts Garden and down to Wade Lagoon as a colorful canvas.
The Chalk Festival is a modern expression of a Renaissance tradition from 16th-century Italy in which artists copied paintings of the Madonna by Raphael and his contemporaries using chalk on the plazas outside cathedrals.
Everyone can participate at the Chalk Festival! To chalk your own square, purchase a square of pavement (chalk pastels included) at the registration tent. $10 small square (includes a 12-count box of chalk pastels) $20 large square (includes a 24-count box of chalk pastels)
