Yardworks Festival returns this summer

Yardworks has grown to become one of Europe’s biggest and best festivals dedicated to street art and graffiti. Across two days, the concrete playground that is our Galvanizers Yard becomes a mess of colour, creativity and collaboration as urban artists from across Glasgow, the UK and Europe come together to paint, draw, inspire, educate, or just hang out and eat fancy chips. 

Since our very first festival in 2017, it’s safe to say the word is now very much out, with the festival now attracting the creme de la creme, the global elite, of the street arts and graffiti scene. For those in the know, last year’s artist list included: Smug, Does (The Netherlands), Insane51 (Greece), Saturno (Spain), Mr Baker (Germany), Balstroem (Denmark), Welin (Denmark), and, from the UK, Voyder, RogueOner, Mark Worst, Gent48, Ziner, Bonzai, SledOne, Soda, Curtis Hylton and Philth.

For local artists, it’s a chance to learn from the best, meet their heroes, and get inspired by what people are doing elsewhere. For the audience, it’s a weekend of witnessing murals being created live, from scratch, in front of you; having a shot yourself at various interactive workshops; occupying the weans with expertly-crafted art activities; or, just drinking it all in with a pint and street food in hand.

For Glasgow, it’s a visual celebration of the city’s artistic ambition, its style, and the importance it places on nurturing - and sharing - the joy of creativity. 

If we had to choose just a few highlights from the past few years, we’d go for the graffiti maze (200 metres of super smooth concrete and steel!), Mia McGregor’s wildly popular Cubes installation (get the kids involved young), a talk from author, photographer and subway artist Martha Cooper (she’s a really big deal), and the commissioning of the huge, Classical-art-inspired mural by PichiAvo that you see today in our Galvanizers.