Leicester’s acclaimed Bring The Paint street art festival is back, transforming some of the city’s streets with large scale pieces of public art between the Monday 23rd and Sunday 29th May.
The third instalment of the award-winning festival, which boasts the largest line-up of internationally acclaimed street artists in the UK, is shaping up to be the biggest yet. The festival will feature a huge selection of international, national, and local artists creating over 45 large scale public artworks across the city, as well as a host of exhibitions, workshops, music, street art tours, live broadcasts and other family friendly activities.
Since the first festival in 2017, Bring The Paint has drastically changed and improved the visual landscape of the city, creating a free open air gallery for all to enjoy, and showcasing the transformational benefits of large scale public artwork – you may have seen them spring up in NCP car parks and on the side of LCB Depot (among other places) over recent years.
This year, world renowned artists from America, Mexico, Germany, Italy, France, and the UK will be continuing the transformation with more world-class art. The festival will bring together over fifty internationally acclaimed artists including BOND, INKIE, 1UP, SMASH, SUPER A, HOW & NOSM, FLYING FORTRESS, YARD WARRIORS, VIBES and WON ABC.
Supported by Arts Council England, BID Leicester, Leicester City Council, De Montfort University and The Gresham Apartments, Bring The Paint is inspired by Leicester’s identity as one of the most diverse cities in Europe. This year’s festival will build upon the theme of collaboration, bringing together artists from across the world who would not normally meet, re-imagining this vibrant diverse destination and giving the public a chance to witness the spectacular works being created first hand.
Leicester City Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said: “Leicester hosted the first Bring the Paint event in 2017, and the amazing results of that can still be seen in the city centre today.
“I’m delighted that the city council is sponsoring Graffwerk to bring the event here once again this May and look forward to welcoming world-class street artists from around the globe to our city.”
The festival will attract thousands of visitors to the city over the six days, to witness the artists’ progress as they paint fresh locations, create spectacular 3D floor art and develop a new large scale interactive mural utilising the latest augmented reality (AR) technology. There will be many opportunities for families to get involved with workshops, music, exhibitions, and food & drink offerings.
There will also be walking tours and cycle tours (which you can do on the new e-bikes, if you prefer) – check out www.santandercycles.co.uk/leicester
*Main Image Credit: Joe Decker
