Ebb & Flow Street Art Festival 2026

Ebb & Flow is South Dunedin's first ever street art festival. A celebration of creativity, community, and connection to place. Through large-scale live mural painting and street art workshops, we’ll tell the stories of South Dunedin — of whenua, whānau, migration, water, resilience, and imagination. Held throughout February 2026, the festival will align with other major events on the South D calendar including the highly patronised South Dunedin Street Festival. We've got 8 murals to fund, with 3 already funded. All funds from this campaign will go toward making the 4th mural a reality, paying the artists, suppliers and organisers of the festival for their mahi.

The South Dunedin Street Art Trail team have been bringing artists, walls and funding together for 7 years. Led by Rachel, Claire and Hayden, our team of volunteers have worked on 10+ murals and installations across South Dunedin. We've had plenty of help from our amazing partners along the way, including South Dunedin Community Network, Dunedin City Council, Taskforce Green, Kowhai Painters, Accessman, Resene, Gordon Harris, Kiwirail and many more. 

Each mural costs between $10,000-$15,000 to complete once you've accounted for the artist fees, paint, access, risk mitigation, traffic control, and consents. For Ebb & Flow 2026 we've got 8 murals to fund! We've secured funding for 3 murals so far. The funds raised from you will go toward making one more mural a reality, paying the artists fair market rate for their talent, whilst beautifying the streetscapes of South Dunedin. 

South Dunedin is rich with history, community strength, and diverse voices, but those stories often go untold or unseen. Public art helps anchor identity. It shows the mana of a place. It invites connection, conversation, and belonging. Ebb & Flow is designed to bring those stories to the surface.

We've secured 8 walls across South Dunedin, including old shop fronts on Prince Albert Rd and the beige walls of Carey Ave. We have 8 local and national artists including some of the best around town lined up to bring life to South Dunedin, including: Koryu Aoshima, Shane Walker, Lara Hattingh, Aroha Novak, Bruce Mahalski, Kelly Sunshine, Guy Howard-Smith and Claire Rye. 

The festival will run during the month of February 2026, syncing up installations with key events on the South Dunedin calendar, like the South Dunedin Street Festival. 

South Dunedin is a fantastically diverse community. The rich tapestry of cultures means we not only have the best selection of cuisine in the city, but we also have amazing stories to tell. The South Dunedin Street Art Trail celebrates South Dunedin, telling stories of people, places, and time through striking street art for all. The impact? That people see themselves and their culture in murals across their neighbourhood, that they connect and feel a sense of belonging and pride in the future of South Dunedin.