Humboldt Today with John Kennedy O'Connor

Eureka Street Art Festival Organizer Jenna Catsos

(AUDIO)

We have good news, Humboldt. You will still get to debate the appropriateness of murals this summer. 

While many of Humboldt’s annual events have mostly succumbed to pandemic restrictions, the brains behind the 2020 Eureka Street Art Festival realized that they could still safely corral artists to apply fresh color to local walls. Specifically, this year’s event — happening Aug. 10-15 — will be centered in Henderson Center, where 12 new murals and other art displays are scheduled to go up on soon-to-be-less-boring buildings. 

Jenna Catsos and an example of her now Humboldt-ubiquitous penmanship

How is this all going to happen in our socially distanced current reality? The Lost Coast Outpost sought answers from local artist and ESAF organizer Jenna Catsos during the latest edition Humboldt Holding Up, our regular podcast-like Zoom encounter with actual humans. Topics discussed this week include:

  • The logistics of this year’s festival, including plans to livestream this year’s mural entries;
  • How festival planners attempted to match property owners with some of the over 300 artists who applied to paint this year;
  • Jenna’s own artistic endeavors through her business Pen+Pine; 
  • How Eureka residents can earn themselves one of Jenna’s coveted “Great Garden Awards”; 
  • Why Jenna, an East Coast transplant who has made Eureka her home for the past six years, chooses to involve herself in so many community projects.

Click the player at the top of this post to hear Jenna’s chat with LoCO’s Andrew Goff and Stephanie McGeary (w/ Ziggy) and/or peruse past Humboldt Holding Up episodes below.

Scenes from the 2019 Eureka Street Art Festival

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Eureka Street Art Festival Organizer Jenna Catsos