Frankston City wins national award for Street Art Tours
Published on 07 March 2022
Congratulations Frankston – we did it!
Frankston City won gold in the 2021 Australian Street Art Awards for Best Street Art Tour.
Mayor Nathan Conroy said: “This is wonderful recognition for Frankston. The City is truly transforming into a vibrant destination for events, arts and culture.
‘’The Street Art Tours are the result of a cross-Council collaboration to build a tangible experience for residents and visitors around these magnificent artworks dotted across the City.
“Frankston is full of amazing arts and culture assets, and building these experiences is a wonderful way to help people engage with our City.”
Mayor Conroy added: “The tours ran monthly in the beginning – now they run twice weekly – to accommodate demand and with the introduction of twilight sessions, to encourage people to venture into our City when it comes to life after dark.
“We are so proud to have hosted over 30 national and international artists over the last 4 years as part of the Big Picture Fest. And we will be welcoming more with the Fest returning (14 - 20) March, the City’s artworks will swell from 40 to over 50 murals.”
The State Member for Frankston, Paul Edbrooke MP, said: “I was absolutely delighted to hear that Frankston won the National Award for the Street Art Tours.
“Frankston has been put on the map and we are being nationally recognised once again,” he said.
The Frankston Street Art Walking Tours received the Gold Award for the Best Street Art Tour at the 2021 Australian Street Art Awards announced from Queensland’s Sunshine Coast on Friday night.
The Frankston tour, operated by Frankston City Council, nudged out the Dinosaur Canyon Experience Tour, a deep dive into a prehistoric world created as part of the Age of Dinosaurs in Winton Queensland, which took out the Silver Award, and Bronze Award winner, Big Rivers Portrait Series, a mural collection in Katherine NT that honours people who have helped forge the Big Rivers region identity, managed by the Department of the Chief Minister and Cabinet Big Rivers.
The Australian Street Art Awards encourage Australians to explore the world-class street and public art that is safely accessible all year round and found in every corner of the country.
With rigorous judging by tourism leaders from across Australia, plus second-tier auditing and due diligence, Frankston’s win has the credence of the art tourism sector.
The judges said: “This walking tour is contributing significantly to making Australia a more vibrant, creative and interesting country – somewhere visitors want to explore more keenly.”
Awards Director, Liz Rivers, added: “Australia has a long history of creating superlative public art that captivates visitors. Until these Awards were launched in 2018 though there had never been a way of rewarding and supporting places like Frankston that created these art-related experiences for travellers. The Australian Street Art Awards remedied that shortcoming.”
In commenting on the Frankston City Council’s Gold Award win, the judges said that the City has been doubly clever in firstly hosting the annual Big Picture Fest that created the 40 murals while forging a street art legacy and secondly in leveraging this legacy through these tours.
“This is a world-class example of how street art can operate as an activation and immersive experience to generate civic pride while also bolstering the local economy through tourism,” the judges said.
“What stood out for us is how the tours are embraced by locals who want to show off ‘their’ art to visiting friends and relatives, creating a win-win situation for everyone involved – the Council, residents, visitors and the artists whose works are on show,” the judges said.
Mayor Conroy said that the Frankston’s street art is fuelled by the annual Big Picture Fest, with each mural an epic display of colour, creativity and movement, adding: “Together they have been a catalyst for Frankston’s perceptual and physical transformation.”
“Led by knowledgeable local guides, the tours are a deep dive into the unique and inspiring artworks following the Inner City Street Art Trail through the city’s streets and laneways,” the Mayor said.
Frankston’s Street Art Walking Tours are one of a range of ways you can discover the City’s growing arts scene, including Digital Walking Tours, the ENCOUNTER augmented reality scavenger hunt and even a Junior Street Art Explorers Program for the younger ones in the family.
Street Art Walking Tours run for 90 minutes, cost $15 per person, include a hot beverage, are family friendly and feature all abilities access with small groups of less than 10 people and private tours available on request. Bookings are essential via
https://www.discoverfrankston.com/things-to-do/tours/frankston/street-art-walking-tours
However, during The Big Picture Fest from 14 – 20 March the tours will be free, enabling participants to see the artists at work as they bring the total number of murals to over 50!
The festival features renowned street artists creating vibrant and edgy artworks on buildings and in laneways across Frankston CBD.