Cheltenham Paint Festival is celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Cheltenham Literature Festival with a unique collaboration of the two events, this autumn – with street art across town set to explode with creative interpretations of the theme ‘Hurrah For Books’.
The two very different festivals are joining forces for the first time, with around 100 leading national and international street artists expected to be painting at 25 sites across the town during the Cheltenham Paint Festival on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 September 2019.
Visitors to the Cheltenham Literature Festival a few weeks later, from Friday 4 to Sunday 13 October 2019, will then be able to explore the town and enjoy its latest street art alongside the 800 events taking place.
The theme was coined as ‘Hurrah For Books’ was the name of the commissioned event performed by Joyce Grenfell, which wrapped up the first ever Cheltenham Literature Festival in 1949.
Andy ‘Dice’ Davies, director of Cheltenham Paint Festival, said: ‘We are delighted to be working with Cheltenham Literature Festival. We both have the same vision of improving the cultural offering in Cheltenham and this is a great opportunity for us to jointly deliver a recognition of Cheltenham’s role in the proliferation of literature events worldwide.
‘My family are avid readers and I am looking forward to the opportunity to share the excitement of a new book within the theme. Martha Cooper’s Subway Art was the book that inspired a huge amount of our artists to start painting for themselves, so I expect that to be referenced heavily!’
Street art expected to be popping up around Cheltenham includes a photo-realistic portrait of one of many people’s favourite authors by Sam Art, Chinagirl Tile is said to be creating a ceramic piece based on her favourite childhood novel, AndAtWhatCost will be using vintage reference books in their work.
Lyndsey Fineran, programme and commissions manager for The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival said ‘Our mission has always been to get books out in the world and into people’s lives, so I can’t wait to see book-related artwork popping up all over town.’
For more information see Cheltenham Literature Festival and Cheltenham Paint Festival.
