Newport Gets Dressed Up

SLS (which counts dressing Liverpool during its year as Capital of Culture 2008 among its claims to fame) is using temporary flagpoles; lamppost banners, catenary banners, tree wraps, hoardings, building wraps, shop window displays, screens, event displays and lighting to add sparkle to the city, in a year-long dressing programme which is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and aims to echo community spirit and reflect the events that are taking place.

Local artists will be contributing to the artwork used in dressing the city to capture the spirit of Newport and their work will be displayed in Bettws; St Julian’s; Hartridge; Lliswerry; Duffryn; Bassaleg; Caerleon and Underwood.

The launch of the Festival 2010 in January saw the first touches of dressing being added, with flagpoles around The Riverfront Theatre. In March more flagpoles were added to other parts of the city centre, on Bridge Street, High Street and Westgate Square.

Over the next few months a number of key landmarks will be decorated using building wraps; city centre streets will be laced with catenary banners; trees will be wrapped using the Festival 2010 colours and more flagpoles will be added around the city to promote key events such as the SuperDragons trail.

It’s also planned for community art to be used on the hoardings and building wraps and to decorate empty shops in the city centre, as part of the Empty Shops Project.

And this is only the beginning of the city dressing programme for Newport. There are exciting plans to further dress the city in the autumn months.