Opening Up the Walls – Worcester Paint Festival Makes Street Art More Accessible
Street art has become one of the defining visual languages of the modern city, but Worcester Paint Festival (WPF) is ensuring it is not just for those in the know. This year, the festival has joined forces with The Arts Society Worcester to launch an imaginative new project that brings murals to life for a wider audience.
Thanks to funding from TAS, ten specially designed QR-coded plaques have been installed beside selected artworks across the city. Scanning them offers visitors insight into the artists and their practice, helping those unfamiliar with the scene to better understand the works. Crucially, the project has also been developed with accessibility at its heart. Working with tutors and students from New College Worcester, which specialises in education for blind and visually impaired young people, WPF has embedded audio descriptions and tactile markers into the plaques. Each has a small raised dot (a “Bumpon”) to guide users to the QR code, opening up Worcester’s walls to a whole new audience.
Festival Director Kate Cox explained: “It’s really important that all people can access murals and culture regardless of any access needs, and we hope to learn and grow so that we can be more inclusive. Education on street and graffiti art is also high on our agenda. It’s a controversial, yet vibrant scene spanning more than sixty years and we hope to share this with wider audiences.”
Selecting which pieces to highlight was no easy task. With over a hundred murals curated to date, the team settled on ten works that together showcase the variety of styles on offer. Highlights include Curtis Hylton’s wildlife piece on Netherton Court, Inkie’s bold design at the Royal Porcelain Works, and Phlegm’s surreal vision on Foundry Street. There is also a new plaque telling the story of graffiti culture itself, located at Diglis Dock Road.
Maggie Keeble, Community Arts Lead for The Arts Society Worcester, said: “We are delighted to support Worcester Paint Festival in this imaginative project. These plaques will help open up street art to a wider audience, including people with visual impairments. It’s exciting to see Worcester’s cultural landscape enriched in such a creative way.”
The QR plaques will be in place in time for Worcester Paint Festival on 20th September, when maps can be collected from Tourist Information on the High Street, WPF HQ in Friary Walk, or downloaded online. Large-print and PDF versions are also available.
For more information, visit @worcesterpaintfestival.
You can find the QR coded pieces at these ten locations:
- Curtis Hylton – on the side of Academy Theatre Arts, on Netherton Court, WR13AU. What3words: rubble.corner.puts
- Sophie Mess – James Close, WR1 2DA. What3words : exam.manual.mercy
- Inkie – Royal Porcelain Works – side of Henry Sandon Hall, WR1 2NE. What3words : friend.with.win
- Takeone – Moor Street, WR1 3DB. What3words : causes.rents.snack
- Phlegm – 2, Foundry Street, WR1 2BJ. What3words : prices.poster.such
- Annatomix – 2, Dent Close, WR5 1AH. What3words : grain.just.roof
- Peachzz – Food and Liquor, 55, Sidbury WR1 2HU. What3words : trial.gent.woods
- Tash and Elno –Riversides school, corner of City Walls Road & St Martin’s Gate, WR1 2BS. What3words : became.data.radar
- Rob Draper and Leigh Charman – Countryside centre – side of Orchard cafe, WR5 2LG. What3words : lamps.nail.parade
- Brief history of Graffiti Culture- Diglis Dock Road, WR5 3DF. What3words : latest.snow.placed