Street artists converge on Worcester for city’s paint festival

Street artists from across the country have converged on Worcester to create murals across the city centre for its annual paint festival.

The lineup for Saturday’s event includes international and UK names alongside emerging talent and local street and graffiti artists, organisers said.

Bristol graffiti artist Inkie said Worcester was a key location for street artists, halfway between the “graffiti capitals” of his home city and Birmingham.

Festival director Kate Cox said Worcester was home to graffiti writers that had been painting for 50 years, with its own big graffiti scene in the 1980s.

Ms Cox said artists had faced “a few glitches with the weather this year”, but had been out painting and would be continuing all weekend, and people would see “beautiful things appearing”.

People who want to see the work can collect a map from Worcester Tourist Information on High Street, or view the map online, and follow the trail the artists have created.

Ms Cox said displays were being created at Tolladine Community Hub, the Severn View Hotel, Cripplegate Park, the Royal Porcelain Works, Gheluvelt Park, the Conservatory pub and other locations.

She said this year’s festival included an artist from Australia and another from China who was currently living in London.

Ms Cox said: “We’ve got Sheffield, Bristol, Midlands, London and Worcester artists and it’s really an international platform as well.”

Inkie, who was a “mentor” when the festival was first set up and supports Ms Cox’s work, said Worcester was “just a lovely city”, adding: “You kind of fall in love when you come up here. It’s a lovely place to be.”

He said he considered Worcester to be the border between the Bristol and the Birmingham and Wolverhampton scenes, adding: “There’s always been a connection between [those] cities, and Worcester is right in the middle.”

Last year’s festival saw street art across Worcester get a fresh coat of paint, and a programme of live painting, pop-up art history and street art workshops, was held.