ARTIST REGISTRATION OPENS FOR 2022 UPFEST FESTIVAL

Artist registration for Europe’s largest live street art festival, Upfest, is OPEN and will close on February 6^th. The festival which will take place 28th-29th May in Bristol with pre-painting of Bedminster’s walls kicking off from the 6^th of May, the festival will attract 400 artists and 50,000 visitors from around the world.

Upfest welcomes all practicing artists, graffiti writers or collectives to register their interest for the 2022 festival and applications are open to artists from all backgrounds, experience levels, disciplines and mediums - as long as they don’t mind a big audience!

Artists who had previously been accepted for a place painting at the 2020 festival have already secured their spot, but there’s still opportunities for more artists to join Upfest for the fifteenth year of the festival.

Upfest co-founder, Stephen Hayles, explains;

“We couldn’t be happier that registration for the festival is open. It’s been three years since the last Upfest festival and a lot of the artists chosen will have been waiting since 2020 to come and paint with us. Planning is underway for our biggest festival to date, with our first major park location and we’re really eager to see what our brilliant artists have lined up for Bedminster. We are very proud to invite artists with all levels of experience whether this is your first large scale piece or you have been painting walls for five decades, the ethos of Upfest is one of inclusivity and nurturing new talent as well as showcasing incredible internationally famous artists.”

Steve and Emma Hayles and the Upfest team are always looking to promote local talent, making sure that a third of the 400 spaces are allocated to Bristol-based artists, with the rest being divided between UK-based and international artists.

Previous years have seen over 1100 artists register from more than 70 countries world-wide including the USA, Canada and Australia. Around 50,000 visitors visit Bedminster to bask in the street art, affordable art sales, music stages, graffiti battles and a get the chance to meet some of the world’s most famous street artists.

The festival will be as a platform for raising money for The National Association for Children of Alcoholics (NACOA) which offers a confidential phone line for children affected by alcoholism within the family unit, to date Upfest has raised over £100,000 for the amazing local charity with a national reach.

Artist registration opens Saturday 22nd January until Sunday 6^th of February and artists will be contacted by the end of the month to confirm if they’ve been successful.