Southend City Jam art festival returns to the city for weekend

One of the UK’s largest street art festivals is returning to a city centre for the weekend.

Southend City Jam in Southend-on-Sea will welcome hundreds of artists to paint large-scale murals on about 100 walls across the city, including at the seafront and pier.

Matt Dent, the Labour cabinet member for business, culture, music and tourism at the city council, said the festivities would create a “buzzing atmosphere” and build “civic pride”.

The artwork will be put together up until Sunday.

It is the fourth year the festival has taken place and will welcome JEKS, a graffiti and mural artist from Greensboro in North Carolina.

JEKS, whose real name is Brian Lewis, attended City Jam in 2023 creating a mural called “Kenny Dub” in the Clarence Road car park.

The festival is supported by local businesses who help to fund things like materials and logistics.

Dent added: “I’m so excited to see such an amazing event return to our city, spearheaded by the incredibly talented and sought after JEKS from the USA.”

The festival will run between 10:00 BST and 17:00 each day.