World Street Painting Festival
June 4, 2025 to June 7, 2025
Visit Joplin, the city’s tourism marketing effort is preparing for the second year of street painting, Joplin’s signature event celebrating the Route 66 Centennial.
Street Painting is a performance art that renders artistic designs on the pavement with semi-permanent materials such as chalk or paint.
3D Art is the expression of applying the dimensions of height, width, and depth, allowing the audience to interact with the art.
In 2024, through a partnership with the Netherlands-based World Street Painting Foundation (WSPF), three USA-based street painting artists created amazing works of art, marking the start of the Mother Road centennial celebration. Their works are still displayed outside the Harry M. Cornell Entertainment and Arts Complex.
That introductory event connected Route 66 with 3D street art. The World Street Painting Festival is where art is made live in front of an audience along the street. Then, as someone places themselves upon the artwork created by international artists, through a camera lens that person and art become one.
The partnership was formed to create, develop, and hold a one-of-a-kind centennial celebration in the form of 3D street painting festivals. In addition to the three existing pieces, creations from 10 artists will be added in 2025 and 20 more in 2026. In the end, 33 pieces will become the world’s largest collection of 3D street paintings in one community. The artwork will be preserved through 2027, the end of the Route 66 centennial celebrations.
The tentative 2025 list includes artists from the Netherlands, Mexico, Italy, Australia, Japan, France, Poland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and England, as well as one artist from the United States.
The Joplin Convention and Visitors Bureau, with the Joplin Celebrations Commission, Joplin Parks and Recreation, and members of the Joplin Arts community, in conjunction with regional Route 66 partners, have collaborated to develop this event series.
The WSPF holds similar festivals in Germany and the Netherlands. Joplin’s Route 66 festival is currently their only US project.
Festival Schedule:
June 4, Wednesday - Site prep/Painting
June 5, Thursday - Painting
June 6, Friday - Painting
June 7, Saturday - Opening
