Major graffiti and hip-hop festival comes to Wales

Nation.Cymru staff

More than 100 street artists from Wales and across the world are set to transform parts of Cardiff this summer as the city hosts an international graffiti and hip-hop festival for the first time.

The four-day Meeting of Styles Cymru event will take place from July 2 to 5 across Grangetown, Butetown and central Cardiff.

The festival is part of the long-running global Meeting of Styles movement, which began in Germany in 1997 and now stages events in countries including Sweden, Finland, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Organisers say the Welsh event aims to celebrate graffiti as an art form while highlighting the positive role hip-hop culture can play in communities.

The event is being led by Welsh graffiti artist Amelia Thomas, known as “Unity”, through the Cathays and Central Youth and Community Project.

“We want this festival to raise awareness of graffiti as an art form, changing the often negative narrative behind it and really show how HipHop culture can bring communities together,” she said.

Live painting sessions will take place throughout the weekend at locations including Sevenoaks Park, the Millennium Walkway near Principality Stadium, Wood Street, Schooner Way and Callaghan Square.

The programme will also include breakdancing competitions, beatboxing, live music, exhibitions and film screenings, alongside workshops involving local groups and charities.

Ahead of the festival, artists are running community workshops with organisations including homelessness charity The Wallich and street art collective She Paints Our Streets.

Sean, who has taken part in workshops organised through The Wallich, described the experience as therapeutic.

“I found it quite therapeutic when listening to music and just losing myself in the art,” they said.

Togetherness

Festival organisers say this year’s theme, “Togetherness”, reflects Welsh ideas of community and unity.

A festival hub will be based at Canopi, where visitors will also be able to book guided graffiti walking tours led by people with lived experience of homelessness through a partnership with The Wallich.

The festival will also celebrate the legacy of Cardiff’s graffiti scene, including Sevenoaks Park’s well-known open graffiti wall established by Lou Lockwood in memory of her son Bill “Roxe” Lockwood.

Lockwood later became a graffiti artist herself under the name “Enta” before losing her sight.

The event has received support from organisations including Arts Council of Wales, FOR Cardiff and Community Foundation Wales.

FOR Cardiff executive director Carolyn Brownell said the festival would bring “world class talent” to the city while helping develop local artists.

“We hope that the festival will inspire up and coming artists, as well as local people who will gain an insight into the strength of community in creating together,” she said.