Swindon Town Centre Mini Art & Culture Festival a Great Success

The first of this year’s Mini Arts & Culture Festivals, introduced by inSwindon BID, brings a welcomed ray of sunshine and to Swindon Town Centre.

Anita Bellinger, inSwindon Executive Director says, “This weekend we introduced the first of this year’s Mini Art & Culture Festivals; it was wonderful gathering together some of Swindon’s gifted Artistic groups and individuals to celebrate all things creative in Swindon Town Centre. We were blessed with fabulous weather, and as the sun shone down festival fun was certainly enjoyed by all, adults and children alike. It was really lovely to see so many people laughing and smiling again. The idea behind the initiative was to safely showcase Swindon’s amazing artistic and creative talents, outside in an open urban space, accessible for all. Fantastic pieces of artwork from Swindon Museum & Art Gallery were exhibited, via their inspirational Art on Tour enterprise, alongside real time art sessions delivered by the inspiring grassroots art organisation Artsite. A Makers Market, Totally Crazy portrait selfies and children’s craft actives from super talented Sue Bardwell, were amongst other great successes. I was also delighted that this weekend saw our inSwindon Mother Nature and Flower of Hope mural in Wharf Green joined by three other murals in the Town Centre - Artiste’s dynamic young Artists HOPE mural, Regent Circus’ Wildlife mural by Martin Travers and Lionel Stanhope, and the start of the incredibly talented Peter Cowdy and Karen Koh’s new image in Princes Street. We have so much exciting creative talent in the Town Centre it has been an honour to share some of it, and with all the positive feedback from the community that we have had, we will be able to build and shape our next mini festival.”

“The mini-festival provided a unique opportunity for Art on Tour to share Swindon’s art collection with so many people in one place! It was brilliant to be part of such a vibrant, buzzing atmosphere, and contribute to the culture and creativity offer in the Town Centre. We had a fun time chatting to people about the artworks on show, from those who know the collection well to those who haven’t managed to make it up to Swindon Museum and Art Gallery before!” Katie Ackrill, Swindon Museum & Art Gallery.

Sally Taylor from Artsite also commented, “ Artsite had a fantastic time taking part in the InSwindon Art Festival over the weekend. The weather was glorious, and it was lovely seeing so many people face to face at our events. A great way to move out of lockdown and into summer.”