Calling all Swifties! Visit London launches international mural competition, celebrating Taylor's return to the capital

Calling all Swifties! Visit London launches international mural competition, celebrating Taylor's return to the capital: Elle WIP

23 July 2024

  • Visit London and Global Street Art launch mural competition, giving Swifties the chance to have their fan artwork of Taylor Swift displayed in central London
  • The Eras Tour returns to London this August, with the capital city hosting the most shows and Swift becoming the first solo artist to host 8 nights at Wembley Stadium
  • With entries open to the UK and EU, the winner will receive a trip to London to unveil their artwork in August

VisitLondon.com has today launched a Taylor Swift-themed mural competition for fans, to celebrate the return of the longest-running leg of The Eras Tour at Wembley Stadium.

Ahead of the five additional London shows in August, Swifties across the UK and Europe are invited to submit their creative interpretations of Taylor Swift, The Eras Tour, and her love of London. The winning design will be painted on a wall in London by Global Street Art’s world-class in-house artists.

To get involved, entrants must post their artwork/s to Instagram by midnight on 28th July, using the hashtag #TaylorSwiftLondonMural. Entries from fans of Swift with all artistic abilities are encouraged, with the winning design to be selected based on creativity and ability to showcase both Taylor Swift and London in an artistic light.

The competition winner will receive a trip to London with a plus one, to attend the grand unveiling of their mural in mid-August ahead of the Taylor shows.

Laura Citron OBE, CEO of VisitLondon.com commented: “Street art is a vital part of London’s cultural fabric, so we’re thrilled to be able to create something Swifties can get involved in, 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.

Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries, said: “This mural competition is a fabulous way to celebrate Taylor Swift’s return to the capital. Her decision to perform more shows in London than anywhere else in the world has brought a huge boost to the economy, attracting visitors and supporting our hospitality industry. Now fans can bid to create their own tribute to the megastar and see their artwork come to life in the heart of our city, as we build a better London for all.”

Lee Bofkin, CEO & Co-founder, Global Street Art, said: “Big thanks to London & Partners and Visit London for partnering with us to paint this mural: Swifties are known as some of the most dedicated fans in the world so we can't wait to see all the incredible fan art submissions and bring the winning design to life in London.”

For full details, entrants can visit Visit London’s online guide to the competition and can review the T&C’s here.

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.

For more information, please contact press@londonandpartners.com.

Global Street Art 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 growth 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. 

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London & Partners Media & PR Team

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