Jaco beach has recently seen such a surge in its art and food culture that it may soon be considered the Wynwood of Central America. In the heart of town, Teatro Jaco reopened its doors with Broadway quality shows, theater classes and weekly screenings of classic Broadway musicals.

Locals and visitors alike also played witness to an explosion of murals from internationally renowned street artists, as well as a handful of new restaurants showcasing flavors from all over the globe. From playwrights and painters to local philanthropists, the movement has a growing number of faces who have teamed up and together created the new Jaco Arts District.

In the past 12 months, Jaco’s already eclectic restaurant scene welcomed a variety of plates from cultures across the world. Just a few highlights include the Peruvian Ceviche at Chato’s, the tahini covered shwarma and falafel plates at Las Pitaz, the flame roasted Al Pastor and grilled pineapple torta at GusTaco Mexican Taqueria, and the dripping Philly Cheesesteak at Side Street Bistro, Graffiti’s soup and sandwich slinging sister restaurant.

The aptly named Graffiti Restaurant itself is known not only for its Coffee rubbed Steak, but also for its interior walls, spraypainted floor to ceiling with graffiti lettering and characters. While Graffiti (located across the street from Teatro Jaco) marks the north end of the the Jaco Arts District, Calle Bohio, home to Swell Bar and KAYA Restaurant, runs from east to west marking southern boundary.

Owned by local entrepreneur and art enthusiast Laura Madrid, KAYA (Argentinean/French Fusion) offers a variety of premium meat and fish dishes, including their Pork Ossobuco, which is tender enough to cut with a fork and goes down easy with any one of KAYA’s decadent Malbecs or French reds. At closing each night, KAYA rolls down its doors and exposes one of three collaborative murals painted by GATS, named ‘Best Street Artist’ in the San Francisco Bay Area by East Bay Express.

Laura Madrid is not the only local business owner to sponsor a street art project around town. Just 50 meters west toward the beach from KAYA, Swell Bar also donated their roll-down door (along with unlimited domestic brews) to California based artist, Ernest Doty, in support of Arte Jaco’s first organized series of wall projects.

While walls and refreshments certainly helped keep Ernest Doty and GATS busy painting during their stay in Jaco, the Arts District would not exist without the efforts of Pat Hundley, President of DayStar. In order to ensure that the California artists made the most of their time in Jaco, Pat paid for flights, lodging and all paint supplies during their stay. In return, Ernest and GATS transformed the parking lot outside of DayStar Central Office (shared with Teatro Jaco) into Jaco’s largest free public art exhibit.

Over the last seven months, locals and visitors alike have stopped to take pictures in front of Ernest Doty’s toucan and scarlet macaw, so many were surprised in early February to see a crew of volunteers covering the giant blue billboard in white paint. When asked why the birds were gone, Hundley explained, “Ernest Doty actually gave me the idea over dinner while he was here in June…To turn the DayStar billboard into a rotating street art exhibit that changes every 6 months or so… So when Dourone showed me the concept he wanted to paint in Jaco, along with the murals he’d painted in Wynwood, LA, Madrid and Paris, I jumped at the opportunity to share this new project with the community.”

Having lived in Jaco for over thirteen years, the rotating mural wall outside of DayStar is merely Pat’s most recent effort to encourage community involvement in the arts. In 2010, Hundley sponsored ArtPrize Jaco, where nearly 80 artists competed over a span of fourteen days for $5,000 in cash prize money. During the competition, the field of mainly Costa Rican artists created paintings, sculptures and surfboard mosaics that can still be found around Jaco today.

Original paintings and traditional Costa Rican Boruca masks are also on display and sold daily at Stewart Invierno’s Tico Pod, located next to Pizza Pata. Not only does Stewart ensure that local artists are compensated fairly for their art, but he also offers family drawing and painting workshops on weekends. Stewart Invierno, Pat Hundley, and other community art organizers like Naïma Boubekeur (curator of Dourone’s recent “Pura Vida” wall) and Arte Jaco hope to rally more local forces in planning a Jaco Art Festival by 2017.

Along with ArtPrize Jaco and sponsoring numerous murals, Pat Hundley’s most significant contribution to the arts in Jaco came in 2011, as he teamed up with Darren Lee Cole to give the surf-town its very own Broadway quality theatre. As co-owner of SoHo Playhouse in NYC, Darren Lee Cole has produced hundreds of theatrical productions worldwide, both in English and Spanish. He arrived in Jaco hoping not only to bring Broadway to Costa Rica, but more so to create an enriching cultural experience for tourists and locals alike. In the original Teatro Jaco mission statement, Darren listed three primary objectives: to establish local school performing arts classes, to form a community theater group, and to create special internships matching local students with international artists.

From the first show to its most recent successes, Teatro Jaco has more than achieved its initial goals involving the local community. In December of 2011, Darren directed and produced the theatre’s first show in his own special version of A Christmas Carol. At Pat’s request, the first line ever spoken on the stage was in Spanish and shouted by a young Costa Rican boy who sold Ebenezer Scrooge a newspaper for 100 colones.

While that first show mixed American actors with local talents from Jaco and San Jose, Darren’s recent production, Bill W. & Dr. Bob, opened in Jaco and afterward took three Costa Rican actors around the world to pursue their dreams of acting on an international stage. Even now, during weeks without major productions, Darren teaches daily theatre classes to school children and also hosts screenings of classic Broadway musicals, open to everyone on Wednesday nights.

As new theatre events, restaurants and mural projects continue to be announced almost weekly, 2016 will likely outstrip 2015 as Jaco’s biggest year in art & food to date. Local art philanthropists like Stewart Invierno, Laura Madrid, Darren Lee Cole and Pat Hundley have set the tone for future contributors in establishing a community minded approach toward transforming Jaco Beach into one of Central America’s premier destinations for art & food enthusiasts. Now is the time to forge new bonds between community leaders and artists, both local and foreign, because the walls won’t be blank for long.

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In hopes to identify and unite more members of Jaco’s international art community, all supporters, prospective sponsors and artists are encouraged to follow and contact Arte Jaco on Facebook.

For more information about condos, homes and land for sale in the beach town of Jaco and surrounding areas please contact our Recommended Realtors in Jaco Shawn Fletcher and his wife Hannah Fletcher
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Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.