Organisers of Europe’s largest outdoor street art festival are coming to Weston-super-Mare this September.
For the first time, Bristol’s Upfest is expanding its roots to the coast, bringing a vibrant splash of colour to the town, as new initiative ‘Weston Walls’ is launched at the seaside.
Upfest have teamed up with local artists, Culture Weston and Weston Town Council, to present ‘Weston Walls’, an exciting new street art trail of 10 large scale murals which will spring up on buildings across the town centre this September.
The initiative has been funded by a £20,000 grant from Weston Town Council and with support from the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund to Upfest.
A further £15,000 has been secured from Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants to enable a series of local commissions and a programme of engagement activity with local schools and community groups.
The new Weston Walls mural trail is being curated and produced by Upfest and will form part of a permanent trail transforming the town’s streets with colourful and bold new artworks and encouraging visitors to the town.
The programme will bring together local, regional and national street artists, who will paint a series of artworks during the first three weeks of September, producing 10 new murals, adding to the existing street art and murals to form an enhanced street art trail around the town.
The trail will feature new work from a diverse mix of artists including Irony, Hazard One, Dan Kitchener, Farrah Contemporary, Jody, Tozer, John Curtis, Damian Nicholson, Andy Council and Shruti Ashish, who will create a series of stand-out murals, each bringing their own, one-off designs and inimitable style to a variety of locations around the town centre.
Locations for the murals will be announced as each artwork takes place. Follow on Upfest and Culture Weston’s social media and check the Weston Town Council website for the latest updates.
Further details will be available at www.cultureweston.org.uk and https://wsm-tc.gov.uk.
Cllr Helen Thornton at Weston Town Council said: “Weston, with its eclectic mix of architecture, compact town centre and famous coastal backdrop, is the perfect place to showcase vibrant, original and thought-provoking artwork. Investing in the town in this way will add to its growing cultural identity, draw new visitors to the town and boost local business.”
Upfest co-founder Steve Hayles said: “We are excited to bring a flavour of Upfest to Weston-super-Mare where the artworks will not only transform local sites and engender community spirit, but bring people from near and far to the town. We want to say a big thanks to all the funders for making this initiative possible, to the landlords for providing their buildings as creative canvases and to the artists for leaving their unique street art stamp on the town.”
Tom Newman, programme manager at Culture Weston, added: “We are thrilled to be collaborating with Upfest on Weston Walls. This exciting new mural trail will bring fresh street art to the town from a diverse mix of local, regional and some renowned national artists. Weston Walls builds on a growing reputation for great street art in the town, and will help transform some ordinary corners, creating vibrant new landmarks for the town. Thanks go to Weston Town Council for their generosity and support.”