Nuart, Aberdeen
Aberdeen Inspired is constantly seeking new ways to attract people into the heart of the Granite City, have them spend more time there and encourage them to support our bricks and mortar traders and businesses.
Key to creating a vibrant city centre is making it more attractive and welcoming – somewhere people want to be. This is where Nuart Aberdeen – staged by Aberdeen Inspired and Aberdeen City Council – comes into play.
One of the top six street art festivals in the world, it draws thousands in over the festival weekend to see the new murals – large and small – that have been created. Those artworks remain as a major draw all year round, with tours to take in the stunning works.
This isn’t just art for arts sake, though. Aberdeen Inspired works flat out to help local businesses make the most out of the opportunities brought by this influx of art lovers and cultural tourists – as well as the people of Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.
Nuart Aberdeen undoubtedly boosts footfall and spend in the city centre year-round.
The aim was not only to expose kids to the transformational power of art, but also to encourage them to see the city centre as “belonging to them”. They are, after all, our future diners, revellers and shoppers, the people who will breathe life and vibrancy into Aberdeen.
Using this year’s festival theme of Poetry Is In The Streets as a starting point, Aberdeen Inspired worked with Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council to create a comprehensive educational pack of activities and information, inviting every classroom in every school to be part of Nuart Aberdeen.
Hundreds of school children submitted their own artworks, in languages including English, Scots, Doric, Gaelic or their mother tongue. The resulting works were displayed prominently in the city centre, as much a part of Nuart Aberdeen 2026 as major works by globally-renowned street artists.
They were also encouraged to turn their school playgrounds into massive works of colourful art with Chalk Don’t Chalk pavement pictures and drawings. In the mix, schools also ‘poetry jams’ and poetry workshops.
Aberdeen Inspired offered complimentary school tours of the many murals and installation from this and previous years throughout the festival in April and will continue to do so all year round.
So far, hundreds of children have toured the streets, discovered the artwork and, more importantly, discovered just how much the city centre has to offer them and their families.
In this way, Nuart Aberdeen has engaged a future generation, instilling in them a lifelong habit of coming into the heart of the Granite City as natural and right thing to do.
And that boost to the regeneration of Aberdeen’s city centre – now and in the future – is the real art of Nuart Aberdeen.