City to host Kolkata Street Art festival

The city is going to host the Kolkata Street Art festival for the first time in its illustrious history, Debashis Kumar, member, Mayor in Council (Parks and Square) announced on Saturday.

The festival will be organised by Berger Paints. It is an initiative undertaken to enrich, beautify and clean the city in a unique way. Besides Debashis Kumar, Abhijit Roy, CEO & MD, Berger Paints, Jogen Chowdhury, painter and chief advisor of Kolkata Street Art Festival Pratyush Kumar Ghosh, deputy general manager, were present at the meeting.

It may be mentioned that after coming to power, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took several initiatives to beautify the city.

The KMC took cleaner and greener Kolkata drive. The parks and squares all over the city have been beautified.

The trees planted on the road medians along important thoroughfares have been maintained as a part of the beautification drive.

The flyovers and lamp posts on important roads have been decorated with coloured lights.

Roy said: "In India, Street Art Festival has taken place across several cities and has become part of the popular culture. Now, it's time for Kolkata to hold this event in its own unique way. The main objective of this initiative is to make the city cleaner and even more stunning. The mission is to paint more prominent walls in the upcoming few years. We are seeking to collaborate with local authorities and government bodies to ensure sustenance and cleanliness of these walls throughout the year."

Whilst murals and urban art has been well documented over the past few years, the Kolkata Street Art Festival plan will celebrate the work of 15 admired artists working in various diverse contexts. Barun Saha and his team will work under the supervision of Jogen Chowdhury.

Chowdhury said: "The exhibition celebrates the power of creativity and the culture of Kolkata via variant colors on the wall. This noble initiative taken by Berger Paints will revamp the city giving recognition to the artists."

The tentative list of locations where the festival will

showcase artworks in Kolkata includes Ballygunge Tram Depot Wall, Eden Gardens Wall, Wall near Park Circus tram depot, Wall at New Alipore (near Suruchi Sangha), Wall near Exide crossing (Calcutta Club wall), Shyam Bazar Metro Wall, Jatin Das Park Metro Wall, Central Metro Wall along with 2 Trams.

It was also mentioned that Berger Paints will be on the lookout for more prominent walls in and around the city which can be a part of the festival.