Hamilton's Boon Street Art Festival 2021 to be held online with all local line-up

The 2021 Boon Street Art Festival was in danger of being cancelled but the organisers decided to hold the festival online. Photo / Supplied

Boon Street Art Festival is back and will be brightening up Liverpool St in Central Kirikiriroa from November 26 to 28.

Because of the latest outbreak of Covid-19 in Waikato, the 2021 street art festival was up in the air, but with adaptability, resilience and innovation true to the nature of the arts sector, Boon changed the face of how the festival will be delivered this year: Instead of live events, an online festival with a local line-up has been created for Boon fans to enjoy.

Festival director and local artist Craig McClure says it was either cancel the 2021 festival or come up with a new strategy.

"Some of the decisions we could make quickly to put our best foot forward was to work with Hamilton-based artists only, cancelling the public programme that included live music, art markets and hospitality events, and to increase the experience as much as we can for an online festival."

So for this year, Boon takes a new approach based on digital elements for a festival experience the public can safely enjoy from the comfort of their bubbles.

"The show shall go on... only not as we know it," McClure says.

This year's street art festival features a line-up that celebrates local. Photo / Supplied

Fans of the Hamilton street art festival won't be able to join the action physically this year, but they can follow it through a bunch of digital offerings, including videos of artists at work, "Paper to Concrete" how-to guides, competitions, epic art and merchandise up for grabs, and artist interviews sharing the stories and ideas behind their designs.

Also being developed are 360-degree high-resolution photographs, similar to Google Maps Street View, where viewers can digitally experience the murals the artists will create, and visit murals around the city too.

This year's participating local artists are Rachel Kiddie McClure, Ahsin Ahsin, Pauly B, Ali Selliman, Kieran Horner, Xavier Tapp, Brya Rose, Pounamu Wharekawa, Liam Bourton and Craig McClure.

• To catch all the festival action during the three days head to the BOON Street Art Festival website here and follow @boonstreetart on Youtube, facebook and instagram.