The Astana Graffiti Festival has opened, bringing amateur and professional street art artists together.
The event was organized by the Presidential Center of the Presidential Affairs Department of the Republic of Kazakhstan in cooperation with the Nursultan Nazarbayev Foundation and Smartteam management.
The festival is held to popularize street art as a means of visualizing socially significant information and to support professional and emerging authors working in the genre in the development and realization of their creative potential.
In her welcoming speech, Deputy Director of the Presidential Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan Botagoz Kaipova wished the creative project a successful start and fruitful work. She also noted that graffiti is an independent genre of modern art and an integral part of culture and urban lifestyle.
Artist and sculptor Syrym Musrepov claims that the "Astana Graffiti Festival" will foster cross-cultural dialogue, international recognition of Kazakhstani art, positive perception building for the genre, and the growth of a young culture value system.
In turn, the project coordinator and public figure Yelden Sarybay encouraged everyone to participate in this cultural event and expressed confidence that exciting ideas and unique artistic works would emerge on this platform.
The festival will also be a platform for learning, with master classes, lectures, and performances on various types of fine arts from renowned artists: Leyla Makhat, Ulyana Evdokimova, Nikolai Selutin, Sagyndyk Dagarov, and others.
The square in front of the building of the Presidential Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan will be an open gallery of street art, a platform for artists' creativity during the month. The festival does not imply competition between participants; only freedom of expression is important.
