Cheltenham Paint Festival: Spa Town's walls gets a new lease of life
The 2023 street art event was originally cancelled after a lack of funding
Last updated 28th Jul 2023
Cheltenham's Paint Festival returns today (29 July) with artists travelling from across the globe to give the Spa Town's walls a new lease of life.
It's been a bit of a bumpy ride to make sure it still goes ahead. Back in March, organiser Andy Dice Davies announced he was having to cancel the street art event, due to a lack of funding.
Luckily, to make sure the 2023 event could still go ahead, the community came together to raise the much needed ÂŁ15,000.
This year, there's a big effort going into giving the Town Centre East car park a transformative makeover . Artists arrived earlier this week to make sure work is completed by the start of the Festival.
One of the biggest pieces is being completed by Australian artist Krimson. He'll be painting the 8 storey high wall on the side of the car park (see above)
The artwork comprises of one of his friends from Sydney balancing a vase of flowers on top of his head. Its meant to symbolise "how her mind is a very fragile but a vibrant balance... it's representative of someone's mind and how much it can spurt out and go crazy."
He added that he was very excited to be invited to the Paint Festival and was glad funding was secured and able to go ahead.
He says, "It brings a new look to how a town is formed.
"It monumentalises certain building and spaces, opening them up in ways you'd never even think to appreciate, like dingy car parks.
"If you stop and look at it, then the mural has done its job.
"You've become mindful of one certain sport in your city, that you would not be aware of at all.
"To bring new ideas, to bring new visual designs from across the world to somewhere that doesn't usually see it, sparks everybody's imagination. "
The Cheltenham Paint Festival takes place across the 29th and 30th of July. For those attending an online guide book can be found on the Festival's website.