Background

Upfest - The Urban Paint Festival, created in 2008 between three crazy but art loving individuals. Inspired by Super Cans (Southampton), Cans Festival (London) and the growing number of paint jams around the UK, Upfest was born. 

Upfest was originally conceived to get a group of 20 like minded artists together for a day of painting here in Bristol, however the first festival quickly grew to 50 artists once the word was out. It also help that one of the organiser had just been made redundant for the second time in 8 months and had too much time on his hands, after securing (through a few white lies) a fantastic Bristol venue, the Tobacco Factory, the first Upfest took place in October 2008. 

2009 saw Upfest quickly return for the first weekend in June, which has become the annual date in Upfest diary for the festival, this festival took a huge leap to 150 artists painting over seven venues around Bristol. '09 also saw Upfest curate it's first group shows and went down the road to London and took over the Muse Gallery in Portobello for Urban Riddle and Urban Scrawl. Somewhere in the middle of this we had the wacky idea of attending the ideal home show and grand designs, we're unlikely to do that again but that's another story. 

The summer of '09 introduced Upfest to Upfest on tour, this is now becoming an integral part to the Upfest calender but in our first year we ventured to Nass sports festival and Boardmasters surf festival, each time gathering the troops of ten to fifteen artists and putting their skillz on display. Thanks to builder dude and his merry men we built a church at Nass festival and beach huts at Boardmasters, these were then impressively painted throughout the few days at the festivals.  

The winter of '09 was a bit of a blur, setting up a temporary home at the Wilder Gallery in St Pauls, plans were put in place for Upfest to put it's name on the map with Upfest'10. 

After 280 registrations, consolidation of venues, bigger kids area, inside illustration zone and the Secret Wars guys came on board to create the battle of the year hosted by the UK beatboxing champion Reeps One. With the weather on our side and both inside and outside music stages at full volume the 5th and 6th of June saw South Bristol turn in to the place to be for all things street for 48hrs of 'Live' Urban and Contemporary Art.         

Over the last three festivals Upfest has worked with a local charity called Nacoa, this amazing charity support many children across the UK, who live with alcohol or drug dependant family members. We would like to thank all the artists that attend for helping us raise over £15,000 so far for Nacoa and just as important, raise awareness of the vital work they do. Lastly, Upfest would not in anyway be possible without all the volunteers that muck in to get Upfest ready and supervise the weekend, you know who you are and your all legends.

Here's to Upfest'11 and making it the best year yet!

Nacoa (Charities)

The National Association of Children of Alcoholics

Helpline Number; 0800 358 3456

The National Association for Children of Alcoholics (NACOA) is a Bristol based charity founded in 1990 to address the needs of children growing up in families where one or both parents suffer from alcoholism or a similar addictive problem.

Our research indicates that there are at least 920,000 children currently living in homes where one or both parents have a problem with alcohol. 70% of these children will try to hide their problems from the outside world. Children of alcoholic dependants parents are three times more likely to become alcohol or drug dependant themselves and three times as likely to consider suicide as both children and adults

Since 1990 the NACOA helpline has responded to over 100,000 calls providing information, advice and support. For these young callers, long term support is essential, helping them to improve their own lives, irrespective of whether their parents seek help for themselves.

Callers talk about living with unpredictable behaviour and wild mood swings, being abused and witnessing aggression and violence between parents and sublings. Many of them feel anxious and depressed, they talk about eating disorders, suicide attempts and self harm as a way of coping. Mostly they talk about being isolated and frightened on a daily basis in their own homes. They believe they are to blame for their parents’ drinking and have no one to turn to ask for help. 58% of our callers report both parents have a drink problem. They often suffer alone and in fear.

The helpline is just one aspect of NACOA’s work, all funded entirely by voluntary donations. Although a national charity we are small in terms of staff and funds, relying on the help of carefully trained volunteers to staff the helpline and help with other services. As a small charity every donation is put to good use providing services directly to children of alcoholics, with only a very small proportion used in administration (5% in 2007) and I very much hope you will support this important work.

The synergy between the arts and fundraising has been a long standing relationship, all of us at NACOA very much appreciate all the volunteers associated with this event and ultimately the difference that can be made to young peoples lives in Bristol and around the country.

www.nacoa.org.uk

Concept