Bristol's Upfest street festival shares plans for this year's event
Organisers of Europe's largest street art festival have revealed their plans for this year's event.
Bristol street art festival Upfest was cancelled in 2020 because of the pandemic but it is set to return this summer, with artists painting 75 walls in 75 days.
It will begin on May 15 and will take place on the streets of Bedminster.
An 'Upfest weekend' will follow, with hundreds of artists painting live at Greville Smyth Park on 28 and 29 August.
Upfest co-founder Steve Hayles said: "It’s great to be getting started on painting the murals on the walls of Bedminster as the first element of Upfest 2021 which has been made possible with a DCMS cultural recovery grant from Arts Council England and a contribution from the Bedminster BID.
"To ensure we’re keeping visitors safe we’ve taken the decision to spread out the painting of the walls over the next three months, which means people can explore them and happen across our artists as they paint, in their own time and space.
"Our planning will be in line with the regulations around the easing of restrictions and more detail on that will be released over the coming months about the festival, artists featuring in Upfest 2021 were originally allocated a space in 2020 and it’s been great to be making plans to see them this summer."
Esteemed artist and illustrator Will Barras will take on the role of Festival Artist for the project, which will see him painting the side of one of Bedminster’s newest additions, The Pony North Street, which is set to open later in May.Helping make the event possible are marker manufacturers Posca and Kobra Spray Paint, who will be providing artists with the materials required to create their pieces.
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