For questions or to participate as a performer, please contact Reed Rickmers at (530) 804-3044
Arts Alive Spoken Word & Open Mic June
Event
October 2026 | Open Studios Art Tour
Open Studios Art Tour Gallery Exhibit
October 3-23, 2026
Reception: Friday, October 2, 5-7pm
Gallery exhibit by participating OSAT artists. Preview artwork by each artist and plan your self-guided tour. Open Studios is more than an event. It’s an invitation to connect with the creative heartbeat of our region.
Open Studios Art Tour Weekends
October 10-11 & 17-18
OSAT is a two-weekend event. Visit artists in their environments as they welcome you to buy artwork, jewelry, woodwork, stained glass and other handcrafts. Over 60 artists participate.
Artist Registration
Opens June 13, 2026. Click here for the Artist's Portal.
How do I visit art studios?
Purchase a $15 guidebook for studio addresses at the following locations:
- Chico Art Center - 450 Orange Street
- Art Etc. - 256 E 1st Street
- Chico Paper Co. - 345 Broadway
- DCBA Welcome Center - 338 Broadway
- Ellis Art & Engineering Supplies - 3029 Esplanade
- Museum of Northern California Art - 900 Esplanade
- Buffy's Gift Barn of Paradise - 6393 Skyway
Open Studios Art Tour is an annual Butte County tradition. Artists share their private studios with the public to explore. This event series is produced solely by Chico Art Center (CAC) volunteers as our major fundraising project of the year. Your participation and patronage pledges your commitment to visual artists in your region and helps make CAC's programming possible all year. Many thanks to our sponsor, Heithecker Financial and local businesses advertising in the Guidebook. We hope you'll support local artists and businesses with your patronage.
July 2026 | Pizza My Art
Exhibition: July 24 - August 7
End of Auction Pizza Party: Friday, August 7, 5-7pm
*Auction Ends at 6:30 PM, then awards given after and auction winners are welcome to pay and pick up their purchases.
$800 Cash Prizes + Fun Consolation Prizes announced at Pizza Party. Need not be present to win.
Makers of all ages transform the common pizza box into extraordinary objects
Pizza My Art turns pizza boxes into pure imagination. After six years, the entries continue to get wonderfully wild.
Got an idea, a joke, a masterpiece brewing? Enter the competition and turn a plain pizza box into your canvas. Winners walk away with cash prizes, pizza gift certificates, and a stack of fun consolation prizes — because everyone who dares to create deserves a little love.
Not the artsy type? Come be a collector instead. The exhibit and silent auction is packed with one-of-a-kind, affordable art that's perfect for your home, office, or that one blank wall you've been ignoring. Every piece tells a story.
Thank you to our sponsors for donating pizza boxes, gift certificates, and in-kind prizes: Mountain Mike's, Farm Star Pizza, Grana, and Rione Restaurant. Cash prizes were generously donated by The Art House, and Marion Hunziker-Larsen in Nicolai Larsen's memory.
Special thanks to Nicolai Larsen for initiating this beloved programming at Chico Art Center, and to Marion Hunziker-Larsen for graciously producing this fundraiser year after year.
Want to see this year's entries? Check out the discussion on our Facebook event page.
Call For Pizza Box Art
Entry fee $5
Family rate 4 boxes for $10
Drop Off: July 17-18, 2026
Competition Rules
- Pick up pizza box at CAC starting late April & pay entry fee.
- Box can be flat, open or closed, constructed or deconstructed, or incorporated in art. Pizza Box Art can be 2D or 3D or Popup. Medium can be painting, drawing, collage, popup art, mixed media, wall or table sculpture, or anything else you can imagine or create. All attachments must be secure.
- Must be ready to hang or to be placed on a pedestal.
- Write your name (+ age if kid) on the back of the piece AND enter artwork on online drop-off form.
- All pizza box art will be on display and auctioned off to the highest bidder at CAC.
- To get any Pizza My Art entries during the auction, including your own, you will need to win the final bid.
- Any artwork not picked up or claimed by August 8 at 4pm can be reclaimed by the artist.
- Pizza box art still unclaimed after Sunday, August 9 will be recycled.
Choose Chico 2026
Chico Art Center's Special Offerings:
Saturday, Feb. 28 - The Makers Cafe
Our free and family friendly maker space will supply you with plenty of free materials and tools you can use while you’re at Chico Art Center to create your own art. Enter our 1947 Pullman train car for a fully creative experience.
This particular café will be an open maker space for you to come and make art was such a wide variety of materials, cover a dinosaur in googly eyes, make a tiny diorama, go wild with the hot glue guns. Sky’s the limit!
This event is completely free to attend and family friendly though little ones will definitely need adult supervision on hand. Drop in anytime you like, we’re so excited to see you this Saturday!
Sunday, March 1 - Free Draw Station
Come draw at our easels placed in the gallery and on the deck. Ever tried Urban sketching? Draw the landscape outside, including our 1947 Pullman train car, people viewing the exhibit or the artwork itself. All ages welcome. Drawing supplies provided.
Come draw with us in Chico's downtown plaza for Choose Chico Day from 1:00-4:00
Maker’s Muse Street Fair 2026
Chico Art Center's Special Offerings:
Saturday, Feb. 28 - The Makers Cafe
Our free and family friendly maker space will supply you with plenty of free materials and tools you can use while you’re at Chico Art Center to create your own art. Enter our 1947 Pullman train car for a fully creative experience.
This particular café will be an open maker space for you to come and make art was such a wide variety of materials, cover a dinosaur in googly eyes, make a tiny diorama, go wild with the hot glue guns. Sky’s the limit!
This event is completely free to attend and family friendly though little ones will definitely need adult supervision on hand. Drop in anytime you like, we’re so excited to see you this Saturday!
Sunday, March 1 - Free Draw Station
Come draw at our easels placed in the gallery and on the deck. Ever tried Urban sketching? Draw the landscape outside, including our 1947 Pullman train car, people viewing the exhibit or the artwork itself. All ages welcome. Drawing supplies provided.
Chico Art Center will have a free drawing station at the end of the fair, on 5th & Orange Street. See you there!
Museum Weekend 2026
Chico Art Center's Special Offerings:
Saturday, Feb. 28 - The Makers Cafe
Our free and family friendly maker space will supply you with plenty of free materials and tools you can use while you’re at Chico Art Center to create your own art. Enter our 1947 Pullman train car for a fully creative experience.
This particular café will be an open maker space for you to come and make art was such a wide variety of materials, cover a dinosaur in googly eyes, make a tiny diorama, go wild with the hot glue guns. Sky’s the limit!
This event is completely free to attend and family friendly though little ones will definitely need adult supervision on hand. Drop in anytime you like, we’re so excited to see you this Saturday!
Sunday, March 1 - Free Draw Station
Come draw at our easels placed in the gallery and on the deck. Ever tried Urban sketching? Draw the landscape outside, including our 1947 Pullman train car, people viewing the exhibit or the artwork itself. All ages welcome. Drawing supplies provided.
