I
f you haven’t experienced the magic of street painting—seeing amazing works of art created right in front
of your eyes by skilled artists using colored chalk right on the pavement—don’t miss Italian Street Painting
Marin in San Rafael on June 27-28. This year’s theme is the Summer of Love, and will feature more than 100
Madonnari (chalk artists), live music by several bands (expect psychedelic), including David LaFlamme of ‘60s
band, It’s a Beautiful Day, a Rare Artist Gallery, featuring work by EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases contest
winners, a Flower Children’s Avenue for kids to do art, and a special appearance and show by iconic ‘60s rock
poster artist, Stanley Mouse. It will be an extravaganza of all things art, Italian and love.
“I’ve really had a wonderful,
amazing career,” exclaims Kevin
Marlatt, Executive Director of
Italian Street Painting Marin, who
has worked with many major arts
organizations nationwide. He took
over the helm of this colorful event
in 2016, and is putting the final
touches on the upcoming 2017 fair,
coming up on June 24-25.
Marlatt, 57, was born and raised in
in upstate New York, but the family
moved to Boulder, Colorado, where
he attended high school. He went
to college on a football scholarship,
but became interested in political
science, and chose that for his
degree. He moved to Washington,
D.C. and interned on Capital Hill
under Senator Gary Hart, and then
moved to Boston where he worked
for the mayor.
After a round of mid-level
management positions, Marlatt took
a position as a project manager
with the New England Foundation
for the Arts in Cambridge. “I had
always drawn and painted and
was a musician, but I never really
considered myself going into the
arts,” he says.
But working for an arts organization
for the first time turned out to be
the perfect fit. “I loved the work,”
says Marlatt. “I felt like I could
do more positive work in that
field than in politics—the arts and
education were truly something I
found a passion for later in life.”
Around 2000, Marlatt moved to the
Bay Area and got involved with the
San Francisco arts scene. His first
position was with the San Francisco
Opera, where he ran their Western
Opera Theater touring program. He
Genna Panzarella creator of the poster artwork, and iconic poster artist Stanley Mouse.
Photo by Terry Peck.
went on to be become the director
of education, and put programs
together that brought kids from all
over the city to the opera house,
and gave them a backstage view of
the performing arts.
“Opera is a really wonderful venue
for education, because there’s so
many different elements that kids
can latch onto,” says Marlatt. “If
they’re not into the music, they
might be into the costuming or the
makeup or the stagecraft.”
Although he wasn’t looking
for another job, Marlatt got
recruited by Ruth Felt, the founder
and president of San Francisco
Performances to be their artist
services and education director.
He spent the next two seasons
doing all the booking, artist
management and education
programs. “That’s when I really
got to know people like Yo-Yo Ma
and Wynton Marsalis,” says Marlatt
enthusiastically. “I was just working
with this amazing talent every
night.”
Next stop for Marlatt was at
Stanford Lively Arts, where he
spent three years doing education
programs. In the late ‘90s, attracted
by the booming economic “bubble”
in Silicon Valley, he left the field
briefly to work at Intel, booking
keynote speakers for conferences.
But the for-profit world did not
resonate with him like the nonprofit
one. “The money was good, but
it just didn’t fit,” says Marlatt. “It
wasn’t my tribe.”
After a short, hiatus, Marlatt
returned to the arts, and became
the dean at the Oakland School
for the Arts, (one of Jerry Brown’s
programs). He also wrote the
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