Preston Guild Food Festival

Sand, Sea & Spray – Urban Art live in Blackpool

It will be a case of Spraywatch as the Sand, Sea & Spray Urban Art Festival returns to Blackpool on 15, 16 and 17 June 2012.

Huge names from the world of Urban Art are due to descend on the resort for three days when live graffiti will be produced in various locations.

A truly international flavour sees artists including Pure Evil (who recently featured on BBC TV’s The Apprentice), Irek Tankpetrol from Poland, Osch from Chile and Paris-based Kashink (one of only a few female street artists) join forces with more than 40 other artists to give visitors to Blackpool a totally new and refreshing experience.

Urban Art is rapidly growing with highly acclaimed art galleries around the world scrambling to feature the latest big names.

And Blackpool has certainly pulled the long straw with artists travelling thousands of miles to take part in this not-to-be-missed FREE event.

The brainchild of Robin Ross, this is the second Sand, Sea & Spray festival and people of all ages are encouraged to find out more about this world-wide phenomenon.

Building on the success of last year’s festival, this year will also see an expansion and include a fashion show and exhibition in the Winter Gardens Olympia featuring garments created by students from Blackpool Sixth Form, as well as live music and street dance.

Organiser Robin Ross has worked in the radio industry for more than 25 years and more recently turned his hand to arts after a lifelong interest in images and style. In 2003 Robin developed the idea of the Art in the Park Exhibition in Blackpool, which featured rock stars, photographers, colour blind artists and painters on silk.

Robin said: “I am delighted to be returning to Blackpool with Urban Arts. It’s such an amazing opportunity for these artists to stage their work to a very wide and diverse audience.

“It’s also a great opportunity for the audience to learn about and really appreciate Urban Art. When you watch urban art being created it is amazing because you really appreciate the skills that are required to create such masterpieces.

“We have got some fantastic artists coming to Blackpool and I am really looking forward to seeing people’s faces as they realise just how jaw-droppingly good these artists are.”

Sand, Sea & Spray will see six sites around the resort transformed into huge art galleries with artists creating masterpieces on North Pier, Deansgate, Adelaide Street, Central Car Park, Olympia in the Winter Gardens and Church Street.

There will also be opportunity for people to buy the artists’ work with pieces ranging from around £15 to more than £1,000.

Natalie Wyatt, Managing Director of Marketing Blackpool, said: “It is brilliant that Sand, Sea & Spray is returning to Blackpool.

“This was a great event last year and I am really looking forward to seeing these artists in action again.

“This is an event for people of all ages because it really is amazing to watch and what’s more, it’s free so it’s a great family day out.

 “The Sand, Sea & Spray Festival is just one of the many events in Blackpool that show how we are becoming a much more cultural destination for visitors. There is so much more to Blackpool than meets the eye.”

Sand Sea & Spray takes place in Blackpool on Fri 15, Sat 16 and Sun 17 June 2012.  For more information go to www.visitblackpool.com or Tel: 01253 478222

Ends

For more information about the event contact:
Sarah Rhodes – PR Executive Marketing Blackpool Tel: 01253 478208/07547404267

Robin Ross Tel: 07715 047777

NOTE TO EDITORS:

Artists will be available for interview and photographic/filming opportunities prior to the launch of Sand, Sea & Spray – details to be confirmed later.

The talent on show is nothing less than awesome, with amazing support from The Arts Council Lottery Funding, Blackpool Council, RPS Training, Virgin Trains, Zilch, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, VisitBlackpool, Grantham’s, DTF, FYCreative and many more, this event is a true international art event taking place in Blackpool.

To find out the latest news about Blackpool events visit www.visitblackpool.com or follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/loveblackpool or Twitter: @visitBlackpool

 Marketing Blackpool

On 24 November 2011 a new marketing company, Marketing Blackpool, was established, intent on positioning Blackpool as Europe's premier seaside resort.  The company will provide support to visitBlackpool in the promotion and marketing of the resort as a destination as well as organising some of Blackpool’s key events.

More information can be found at http://www.visitblackpool.com/marketing-blackpool/home.

 Arts Council England works to get great art to everyone by championing, developing and investing in artistic experiences that enrich people's lives. We support a range of artistic activities from theatre to music, literature to dance, photography to digital art, and carnival to crafts.  Between 2011 and 2015, we will invest £1.4 billion of public money from government and a further £0.85 billion from the National Lottery to create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country – www.artscouncil.org.uk