New Taylor Swift fan mural unveiled in London
13 August 2024
- A new fan-designed mural of Taylor Swift has been unveiled in Shoreditch this morning
- The artist, Kate Claxton, a 22-year old ‘Swiftie’ and illustrator from the UK, was selected as part of a fan competition run by Visit London and Global Street Art
- The mural will remain in situ for ‘Swifties’ travelling to London this week for the second leg of London Eras Tour shows
A new fan-designed mural, created in celebration of the longest-running leg of Taylor Swift’s ‘The Eras Tour’, has been unveiled in Shoreditch today. Located on 83 Redchurch Street, the mural will be available to snap a selfie with throughout the return of The Eras Tour this August.
The artist, Kate Claxton, 22, from Stockton-on-Tees, UK, was selected as part of a fan competition run by Visit London and brought to life by Global Street Art, the team behind the London Mural Festival.
Kate has been a ‘Swiftie’ for as long as she can remember, attending every tour of Swift’s for almost ten years. “If you ask anyone who knows me, they’ll tell you how big a fan I am of Taylor Swift and her music: from waking up at 5am to play her new music, to watching the opening night of the Eras Tour on a grainy livestream.”
To combine both Taylor and London, Kate’s design was inspired by the colours of the Union Jack, with the use of graphic line art to ‘make the design pop’. “To see my design come to life on the streets of London, in celebration of the best tour I have ever attended, has been an incredible experience and one I am very proud to be a part of,” Kate added.
The mural was officially unveiled this morning by ribbon cutting with the winning artist, Global Street Art, and Visit London.
Tracy Halliwell, Director of Tourism at VisitLondon.com commented: “Street art is a vital part of London’s cultural fabric, so we’re thrilled to be able to offer something creative Swifties can visit and take photos with during their time in London.
We know that music is a huge motivator for visitors choosing a destination, with recent findings ranking London as one of the most popular cities when it comes to music tourism[1]. As London prepares to host the most Eras Tour nights of any other city, we’re excited to welcome many more visitors this summer.”
London welcomed Swift for three nights in June, celebrating across the capital with a special Tube map, a Taylor trail, and a wide series of events across London’s fantastic venues.
Tourists attending the June and August London shows have been predicted to boost the capital’s economy by £300m.
Lee Bofkin, CEO of Global Street Art, said: "Many congratulations to Kate Claxton on winning the Taylor Swift mural competition. Kate's artwork is proving popular with fans and we've seen lots of people taking selfies. It has been a pleasure working with Visit London to make this project happen and we look forward to working together again soon as we're launching our next London Mural Festival in just a couple of weeks, at the start of September."
Swifties looking for further ideas on how to make the most of the city’s celebrations surrounding The Eras Tour in London can visit Taylor Swift in London (visitlondon.com).
Notes to editors
[1] Visit London/OnePoll: 54 per cent of people said they’d consider travelling to London for a music event in the past year – higher than New York, LA, Paris and other UK cities.
All imagery can be found here.
The estimate of £300million boost to London’s economy was calculated using data from UKInbound’s Tourism Statistics for 2018 Tourism-Statistics-2019.pdf (ukinbound.org), which showed that, excluding day visits, each domestic and international tourist to the UK generated about £396 to the UK economy in 2018. Adjusted for inflation (using Consumer Price Index including Housing – CPIH) this would translate to £471 in 2023. This figure was multiplied by 640,000 – the expected audience at Wembley Stadium across the gigs.
About Visit London
Visitlondon.com is the official visitor guide to London and is run by London & Partners, the business and destination agency for London. Our mission is to create economic growth that is resilient, sustainable and inclusive. Visitlondon.com is a comprehensive resource for everything that is happening in London. At any one time, this includes 20,000 event listings, plus content designed to inspire and assist visitors. For more information, go to visitlondon.com.
About Global Street Art
Global Street Art is the UK’s largest and leading mural-painting organisation. Since 2012, Global Street Art and its community of thousands of artists, comprising a network of established names and emerging talents, have painted over 3,000 walls across the UK and worked in dozens of other countries.
Global Street Art’s mission is “to Live in Painted Cities” by working with talented street artists who create murals for commercial and community initiatives. They believe art has the power to transform places and inspire people.
Produced by Global Street Art, London Mural Festival returns to the capital’s streets this September with over 100 murals to explore, from some of the world's best street artists. Themed around ‘connection’, the festival will bring together thousands of artists, communities, and visitors to celebrate London’s diverse people and places. Find out more at londonmuralfestival.com
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