Remember getting your box of chalk out on a sunny day and drawing all over the driveway as a child. Well imagine a whole city drawing on the streets of Houston, all for charity. Via Colori is an annual festival taking place from Saturday Nov. 19 to Nov. 20 at Sam Houston Park in Downtown Houston. The festival features live music and art for people of all ages, and admission is free.
New to the popular Houston festival this year is the Via Colori Street Scene. This festival within a festival takes place on Sunday at 4 p.m. and attendees can stroll through the festival and listen to music while sampling beer, wine and food from Carrabba’s. There will also be a festival-wide scavenger hunt allowing participants of the Street Scene to compete for prizes. Admission is $20 and all the proceeds go to The Center for Hearing and Speech, who puts on the festival every year.
“The Center for Hearing and Speech was looking for a unique fundraiser that would serve as an avenue to increase awareness about hearing loss in children throughout the city of Houston. We wanted to stay away from the normal golf tournaments and telethons and find something Houston had never seen before,” said Ramsay McCoy, public relations and marketing coordinator for The Center for Hearing and Speech. “The Italian Renaissance art of street painting is a historic art form that is becoming more and more popular across the world. We thought this was a great way to increase public access to art at an ideal price – for free. So it is a win-win for all of our attendees.”
The rest of the Via Colori festival features two stages with live entertainment including bands: The Texas Toast, Klockwork, Spain Colored Orange and Rocky Moon and BOLT!. Attendees with little ones can get in on the art by buying their own 2 x 2 square which includes a bag of chalk for $10. The Children’s Museum of Houston will also be hosting a craft corner for kids. The art itself features local and national artists and allows attendees to interact with artists face-to-face.
“As a college student you are always looking for something fun and different to do without spending an arm and a leg. Via Colori is the perfect answer because this isn’t the same old family festival,” McCoy said. “It is everything that is fun all rolled into one. It is a concert, an art show, a great place to take pictures, its FREE and it benefits an amazing cause.”
The Center for Hearing and Speech is the only full-service resource in Houston that teaches children with mild to profound hearing loss how to speak and read. CHS has helped thousands of children develop listening, speaking and literacy skills.
Below are photos from previous Via Colori festivals. For more information you can go to www.centerhearingandspeech.org/via-colori.
Photos courtesy The Center for Hearing and Speech