The week before Art Basel descends on Miami on Dec. 7, the Canvas Outdoor Museum Show will descend upon the city of Lake Worth from Nov. 26 to Dec. 2.
Founded in 2015 by art curator Nicole Henry, the event has run in West Palm Beach for the past two years. Canvas artists will turn the city’s streets into an outdoor museum, with giant murals, shipping containers, art installations and interactive sculptures.
As a curator for high net-worth individuals, Henry said, “I wanted to do something to give back to the community.”
“My intention is to break down barriers,” she said at a press conference Tuesday attended by Lake Worth Mayor Pam Triolo, Rena Blades, CEO of the Cultural Council of Palm Beach Countyu and Madeline McKendry, chairwoman of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, among others.
“We want to provide a free art experience for viewers to become part of the process of creating art,” Henry said. “It’s an interactive experience.”
With the goal of bringing contemporary artists from around the world, collectors and social influencers to the city, the event will be good for economic tourism, Triolo said.
Blades said the Cultural Council is expecting “droves” of cultural tourists to visit the city for the week-long event. According to Blades, the arts bring in a half a billion dollars of revenue to the city each year.
Lake Worth chalk artist Jennifer Nichols Chaparro will be one of the artists participating in this year’s event, which celebrates the theme of unity. The murals, sculptures and site installations will cover most of the downtown area all the way east to A1A.
The event is sponsored by the City of Lake Worth, the Lake Worth CRA and the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, with additional funding provided by 120 SPACE and Florida Food & Farm. Visit canvasmuseum.org for more information.