Chula Vista’s Art Fest is coming back for a second year — a sign of the South Bay’s strengthening arts scene.
Last summer, the city’s inaugural festival brought together dozens of local artists to display their work on the courtyard outside Chula Vista City Hall. Walls of paintings, tables of pottery, printmaking stands and photographs filled the plaza, along with food trucks and live music.
Officials hope to recreate that success when Art Fest returns this August.
“A lot of talented artists have applied,” said Danny Zavala, deputy chair of Chula Vista’s Cultural Arts Commision and one of the festival’s founders. “I'm just really excited to show their work.”
South Bay has a vibrant history of festivals and public art, but has historically offered few local venues for artists to exhibit their work. That has forced many artists to look for opportunities elsewhere in the county.
Art Fest’s return is one signal that things may be changing in Chula Vista. The city has been working to pump new energy into the local arts scene, both through the festival and other projects like a new art gallery taking shape on Fourth Avenue.
New art hubs are popping up in other cities, too. National City recently saw a new film photography studio open its doors, and the Imperial Beach Arts Bureau has been pushing to highlight its growing network of public murals.
Zavala, a young mixed-media artist who also runs his own local gallery, hopes these different venues will create more opportunities for artists to share their work closer to home. His goal is to create a place where Chula Vista residents can get to know their local artists and better understand the importance of art in the city.
This year, he and other Art Fest organizers are mostly planning to follow the same playbook, with some exceptions. There won’t be a movie screening this year. Instead, they are going to lean more into workshop activities with the goal of giving festival-goers room to create art for themselves.
“I wanted to create Chula Vista Art Fest as Chula Vista’s own Comic-Con,” Zavala said. “An annual event that artists have all year-round to look forward to.”
The city is still accepting applications for artists to take part.
The second annual Chula Vista Art Fest will be held on the courtyard outside Chula Vista City Hall on Saturday, Aug.10 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
