When you hear the term ‘paint party,’ you might think of a handful of kids, some tubs of paint and lots of messy clean-up afterwards. When Romero Britto uses the term ‘paint party’ though, he’s actually talking about one of the largest, most anticipated paint parties of his career, one with 1,500 kids (narrowed down from the more than 10,000 who’d signed up), ranging from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Belgium, plus roughly 500 volunteers. All in all, his paint party totaled 2,000 people. Imagine the clean up!

 

That’s his style though. If Romero Britto is going to give, he’s going to give as much as he possibly can; which, admittedly, can get a little overwhelming. It’s for this reason that, in 2007, he established The Britto Foundation, because, “All along I was helping so many charities, working with so many charities… And I just thought, ‘You know what? Maybe I should really make this more organized.’”

 

The focus of his organization is youth, education, and the arts. But, as he says, “If I am able to help these other charities, why not?” Some of the organizations he’s partnered with include Best Buddies International, Andre Agassi Foundation, World Economic and Development Fund, St. Jude Hospital, Governor’s Family Literacy Initiative, and Keep the Memory Alive Foundation, in addition to contributions and donations to hundreds of organizations around the globe such as the American Cancer Society, and the Red Cross.

 

Romero Britto is much like his work: bright, exuberant, and happy; and when he donates his time, again, like his work, and like the paint party, it’s never on a small scale. Several years ago he worked with Medicine Without Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders), when they organized a project in Dubai, bringing 40 artists and thousands of children together to create the longest painting in the world. Romero painted 80 feet of the 6 miles and 400 pounds of canvas, and the 2000 Guinness Book of World Records recognized it as the “World’s Largest Painting.”

 

His own dreams for his foundation? To one day, either through his studio or his art, set something up where his art receives royalties, which then go on to people in need. So that even after he’s gone, his work, his message, his help, and his love, will still live on.-DUO