Mural Festival – June 7-17, 2018, downtown Montreal

Montreal’s MURAL Festival is an eleven day event celebrating the international urban art movement. Championing live art, music, exhibitions and artist talks, the Festival is an important gathering of the global artistic community. World class musicians and visual artists collaborate for a cultural celebration in the heart of Montreal’s main artery, Saint-Laurent Boulevard.

Art by Kevin Ledo
Photo ©Davi Tohinnou

Throughout five successful editions, the MURAL Festival has transformed Montreal through neighbourhood regeneration, establishing Montreal as a global destination for contemporary urban art and an ultimate tourist destination.

Since its founding in 2012, The Mural Festival mission has been to democratize urban art. What began as a love letter from Montreal to the world, has grown into a unique international celebration of the arts, with its own distinctive DNA.

6th edition
A key cultural event to kick off summertime in Montreal, the MURAL Festival offers a host of activities and events in a free-access pedestrian zone located on Saint-Laurent Boulevard between Sherbrooke Street and Mont-Royal Avenue. Some twenty new murals created this year enhance an already impressive and well-rounded route of artwork from the Quartier des spectacles up to Mile End, adding to the permanent public legacy of over 80 major works created by the Festival since 2013.

Art by Joe Lurato
Photo ©Daniel Weintraub

After several years of rapid growth, MURAL has hit a steady groove for this 6th edition. The festival continues to diversify its program with the addition of even more exhibitions and art installations to creating large-scale murals, all the while expanding its musical offering.

This year, the MURAL Festival will present a major art installation developed by the Los Angeles duo, Cyrcle. This unique creation will dress the two floors of the underground parking lot at Lune Rouge headquarters, at the heart of downtown Montreal. This permanent multidisciplinary work will be inaugurated and accessible to the public once the Festival opens.

As in the past, MURAL will offer two weekends of free outdoor concerts in the main festival area, that being in the parking lot and on Saint-Laurent Boulevard between Milton and Prince Arthur Streets.

As for the muralists, this 2018 edition will once again reunite leading international artists, with several this year coming from Mexico and the United States: Ben Eine (UK), Tristan Ea-ton (USA), Smithe (MEX), Michael Reeder (USA), Drew Merritt (USA), Poni (MEX), Cryptik (USA), Saner (MEX) and Demsky (ESP). Many prominent Canadian artists will also attend, including: Sandra Chevrier, WhatIsAdam, STARE, Cyrielle Tremblay, Waxhead, Le Monstr, LSNR and Jeremy Shantz. Kate Raudenbush, a multidisciplinary artist from New York, will create a luminous sculptural installation as a centrepiece for the MURAL Enchanted Forest in the Parc du Portugal on Saint-Laurent Boulevard.

For more information: www.muralfestival.com