(F)REQUENTLY (A)SKED (Q)UESTIONS

You asked. We’ve got answers.

WHAT IS GLOBAL STREET ART?

Global Street Art is the UK’s largest and leading mural-painting organisation. We’re also a media owner, with exclusive rights to over 100 walls in key areas in the UK alone.

Since 2012, Global Street Art and its community of thousands of artists, comprising a network of established names and emerging talents, have painted thousands of walls across the UK and worked in dozens of other countries.

Global Street Art’s mission is ‘to Live in Painted Cities’ by working with talented street artists who create murals for commercial and community initiatives. We believe art has the power to transform places and inspire people – and our stated goal is to inspire 1 million murals by 2028.

WHO ARE GLOBAL STREET ART AND WHAT DO YOU DO?

We achieve our mission in three ways:

(1) We organise legal murals – since 2012 we have organised more than twelve thousand large-scale, hand-painted pieces of art for communities across London and beyond with several programmes including Art for Estates, Building Sights and festivals like the London Mural Festival;

(2) We promote street art and artists online to over half a million fans on social media;

(3) We deliver high-quality commercial projects for clients, ranging from hand-painted advertising to murals for councils and developers, custom 3D builds, added augmented reality and launch events.
We are a growing team (currently just over 30 folks full-time) and we also provide work for a wider team of brilliant artists and videographers.

ARE YOUR PAINTINGS ILLEGAL?

No! We are the exclusive media owner for over 100 walls and sites across the UK, and have agreements in place for many more internationally.

ARE YOU ACTUALLY GLOBAL?

Yep! Globally, we have a network of over 600 walls, operating in over 50 countries with over 1000 industry-leading artists. We make global campaigns local, and local campaigns global.

HOW DOES GLOBAL STREET ART SUPPORT ARTISTS AND GIVE BACK?

With an audience of over half a million followers, Global Street Art supports established and emerging artists by spotlighting murals from around the world. We are able to amplify the artist’s work and boost their profile. On a local scale, we organise legal wall spaces for artists in and around London to showcase their work and build our physical network of creatives.

Global Street Art gives back to the community in numerous ways. Our mission, ‘to Live in Painted Cities’ drives us to (1) support artists by giving them access to legal painting spaces around London, access to in-house residencies and high-quality content, (2) support local communities through public art initiatives, Art for Estates programmes and creative gatherings including Drawn Out evenings, (3) support the city of London by helping organise and host street art festivals including those in Sydenham, Brockley, The Southbank Centre and our very own London Mural Festival (look out for the next one in 2024!).

If you are an artist looking for a space to paint in London or a brand or agency with an idea, you can reach out to our team at humans@globalstreetart.com

WHAT IS LONDON MURAL FESTIVAL?

The inaugural London Mural Festival (LMF) took place across September and October 2020 with over 200 artists from around the world painting more than 50 large-scale walls. The city-wide festival aimed to transform spaces into public galleries, continuing Global Street Art’s mission ‘to Live in Painted Cities’ and use London as a vast canvas. From residential homes to walkways and entire buildings, London Mural Festival celebrates the unique spectacle that street art can bring to our everyday lives.

The inaugural festival championed creative communities across the city, and introduced a new way for people to experience one of the world’s biggest art movements.

London Mural Festival was organised, run and primarily funded by Global Street Art and a small number of partners. It was launched during COVID, to provide paid work for artists during a crisis and improve the national mood by beautifying public spaces. It made national headlines. Our inaugural festival was a huge effort for a small and mighty team, and we are working towards the next one in 2024!

WHAT IS HAND-PAINTED-ADVERTISING AND WHY IS IT EFFECTIVE?

The HPA (Hand-Painted Advertising) industry is growing all over the world, in tandem with a 50-year macro trend towards increased mural painting in our cities generally. In the last decade, social media has helped to accelerate the growth of both street art and hand-painted advertising. HPA works because, to make the point short, it’s a human craft that makes viewers feel something (we’ve run studies to prove it – HPA really does make people stop, stare, and share in an experience.)

To make the point longer, it looks great, is human-powered, steeped in tradition and traditional painting techniques, makes great content for social media and is often shared online, and helps artists to make a living.