Kawerau Street Legal Festival brings graffiti and art together

Kawerau artist Jason Helens hard at work during the Kawerau Street Legal Festival yesterday. Photo/Lani Hepi

More than 20 graffiti artists from across New Zealand took part in the first Kawerau Street Legal Festival on the weekend.

The festival was held at the KEA Industrial Park with hundreds turning up to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of what organisers hope will be an annual event.

Event organiser Chris Jackson said his team wanted to find something the whole community could get involved with.

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The festival was free for children under 14 with a ticket-holding adult and featured top reggae group Katchafire, who performed for the first time in Kawerau.

Other bands and musicians performing included Yesiyah, Kaea, Munashe, Anabac and Sweet Release.

Art works were painted and sprayed onto the sides of buildings, cars and buses and would now be displayed along the main street of Kawerau.

Twenty-six local children were paired up with the street artists while the Crescendo Trust of Aotearoa bought 18 young people down to the festival to perform as up-and-coming musicians. The trust provides a development programme for young New Zealand musicians to reach their dreams.

PHOTO/LANI HEPI

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