International street art festival Nuart Aberdeen has seen thousands of people enjoy its free walking tours this summer, the last of which will depart this Saturday from The Green, Aberdeen at 1pm.
The multi award winning festival, now in its second year, plays host to international artists every April who use the walls of the city centre as their canvas for showcasing world class street art murals and art installations.
Results of independent market research evaluation carried out on the festival by Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, commissioned by Visit Aberdeenshire, have just been received and they further cement the importance of the multi-award winning festival to the city’s bold and ambitious plans for the future.
With 98% of visitors rating the festival as excellent or good and 96% of visitors stating they would recommend the event to friends and family it’s clear that the festival has truly captured the hearts and minds of the public in the north-east and way beyond.
It is also seen by many as ‘transformational’, on so many different levels, and of a scale and ambition that is in keeping with where Aberdeen city centre needs to be.
Brought to the city by business organisation Aberdeen Inspired and Aberdeen City Council, and supported by presenting partners Burness Paull LLP and Aberdeen Standard Investments, Adrian Watson, Chief Executive of Aberdeen Inspired said:
“It’s been absolutely wonderful to see so many people out every week, taking in and enjoying the compelling works of street art, produced by local, national and international artists, for the people of Aberdeen. Over the summer, more than five thousand people have enjoyed the guided walking tours and not just local people, but visitors from across Europe and around the world who will have spent time discovering everything that the city centre has to offer.
“The free walking tours have run since the festival in April, with the last guided tour taking place on Saturday, hosted by all three of our tour guides. Making this the last opportunity in 2018 to learn more about the festival and about each incredible work of art.”
Aberdeen City Council committed a total of £300,000 to support retaining Nuart Aberdeen in the city until 2020. Jenny Laing, co-leader of Aberdeen City Council said:
“Aberdeen City Council is proud to commit £300,000 to support the multi-award winning Nuart Aberdeen festival remaining in the city until 2020. Nuart Aberdeen has had such a transformative impact to the city centre and I’m delighted that thousands of people have become tourists in their own city by taking part in the walking tours.
The festival is a great illustration of what working in partnership can achieve for our city. Nuart Aberdeen demonstrates our continuing commitment to ensuring Aberdeen remains a city that attracts and develop the finest and most appealing cultural events and festivals in Scotland”.
Held in the Norwegian city of Stavanger since 2001 and widely regarded as the world’s leading celebration of street art, Nuart Aberdeen was the first overseas version of the festival.
The festival has won five awards, including the UK Association of Town and City Management’s Innovation Award, the Visit Scotland Award for Tourism.
In addition it won the place management BID award at the 2017 National Business Improvement District (BID) Awards and was also the signature piece Aberdeen Inspired’s winning entry to secure the 2017 European BID of the Year win in July and won the Aberdeen Civic Society coveted Principal Award for its contribution to the city centre.
A team of three local tour guides have taken people to see the works every weekend, come rain or shine and Martyn Reed, Director of Nuart Aberdeen said:
“It’s been such a privilege to see how successful the guided tours have been, giving people opportunities to engage and to share our insights from the festival and the messages within the artworks.
People have just loved engaging and our tour guides have been able to share personal ‘back stories’ during the tours which add to the appeal and helps to bring the works to life. We’ve had an overwhelmingly positive response to the tours and it has been great to see so many people admiring the works since the festival in April.
“Nuart Aberdeen truly captured the hearts and minds of the public in a way beyond I ever imagined it would”.
The last public tour of the season this Saturday 29 September from The Green, Aberdeen at 1pm.