Festival Theatre
1994-2001

In 1994 Hazel Wotherspoon from Out Of The Blue approached MSCreative artist Chris Young about a large scale mural project on the hoardings site behind the Festival Theatre opposite Potter Row. Chris had been working alongside Hazel at the Muirhouse Festival Association running a series of graffiti workshops (it was at one of those workshops where he met Brian McFeely a local up and coming artist from Drylaw.) for young people in the North Edinburgh area.
After a series of meetings with the Festival Theatre management Hazel and Chris drew up a plan to create a large scale work on the hoardings involving various Youth Groups from the North Edinburgh area which would reflect the program of events at the Theatre.
The painting took place over the last two weeks of the summer holidays , a mini bus was used to bring the various Youth Groups from North Edinburgh along to the site through out the fortnight. The project was a great success not only for the The Theatre but the for young people and artists Involved , the mural was featured on a BBC Reporting Scotland news article and in various Scottish newspapers.

After the main site was completed Chris Young secured the smaller part of the hoarding on South College Street to be used occasionally by local Graffiti Artists to create there own work ,many of whom helped out on the completion of the main mural. This smaller hoarding has seen plenty action over the years not only from Edinburgh Artists but also from visiting International artists from Barcelona, Sydney, London, Paris and Berlin to name but a few.
The main hoarding was later painted in 1998 by the MSCreative team and the world renowned artist Mode 2 who has collaborated with the MSCreative team on several projects in Edinburgh and beyond.