Italian Street Painting Fest Founder Recovering – Event’s Future Is Up in the Air

Nearly a year after she decided to help revive the Italian Street Painting Festival she created in downtown San Rafael, Sue Carlomagno didn’t get to see the fruits of her labor last weekend.

That’s because the Tam Valley resident, a 2011 Milley Award recipient, suffered a mild heart attack last Wednesday and was ordered by doctors to take it easy for a while, particularly given the scorching heat that gripped Marin during the two-day event.

Despite a two-year hiatus, the festival returned with some changes, including the new requirement for everyone over age 12 to pay $5 to see the artwork after a fundraising campaign fell short. When she was asked at an April 15 meeting by San Rafael City Councilwoman Kate Colin about the new $5 ticket price, Carlomagno replied, "If we don’t generate additional income, we can’t survive. The money that’s coming in has to run the festival.”

As she relaxed at home on doctor’s orders this week, Carlomagno said it was too early to determine how many people paid to attend the event.

That number, along with a sense of the likely return of sponsors, will determine the future of the festival Carlomagno launched in San Rafael in 1994, one year after its unofficial beginning in 1993 during the Mill Valley Film Festival.

“From all reports I’ve gotten that it was a very successful event – obviously it’s way to early to find out if it was financial success,” she said. “The art was spectacular, from what I’ve seen. We’ll do a major evaluation of the event and make a decision on the future of it.”

The event featured 90 images by 140 artists, with fewer images than in year’s past but all much larger than in prior festivals, Carlomagno said. The festival took place on Fifth Avenue between B Street and Court Street as well as A Street between Fourth Street and Fifth Street. The roads were closed on Wednesday and they reopened late on Monday, July 1.

Carlomagno said that regardless of the event’s future, she’d only act as a consultant to it if it continues.

“(Husband) Joe and I and a few other volunteers – we really worked our tails off,” she said. “It was a very short period of time to pull off a major event. Everybody on the team is very pleased with how the weekend went – people really rallied. I’m sorry I missed it.”