Beyond its set of ambitious mural projects and public events, this year’s BUMP Festival centres around a question: “What if BUMP wasn’t just a festival, but a place?”
“I think if BUMP were a place, it would be a place where people knew each other in a more intense and immediate way,” says Priya Ramesh, BUMP creative director. “I think it would be a place where people play together, and it would be a place where people are activated politically.”
BUMP, short for the Beltline Urban Murals Project, started in 2017 as a civic beautification project for Calgary’s core downtown area. It’s responsible for landmark murals across the city, such as the large Pride mural painted last year by local artist Kat Simmers, located on the Blake, Cassels, and Graydon law firm on 2 Street S.W.
Now in its ninth year, BUMP has expanded in scope and ambition. The team behind the festival view it as a fertile ground for furthering the local cultural dialogue, by activating otherwise mundane spaces and bringing in new artistic perspectives.
“I think there’s a version of BUMP where we focus on the murals, and … it’s just the visual,” says Chloe Chan, BUMP marketing coordinator. “In reality, we’re hosting events that are really connecting people and culture. It’s about people in the city and how we move, how we know each other, how we play.”
This year’s festival features nine new muralists — a blend of local, national, and international talents. Moroccan artist Ayoub “NORMAL” Abid, is known for his vivid and geometric compositions of the human form. On the national side, Toronto muralist Megan Oldhue returns to the festival with well-earned clout in the mural community from her grand realist pieces.
“We’ve brought artists that go on to become really big,” says Ramesh. “The artists are bold, but know who they are with their artistic style.”
The prelude to this year’s BUMP is its urban art conference, themed “Monuments & Memory.” The conference’s panels and workshops explore the ways public art plays a role in cultural city building.
“Let’s get you guys in a room, let’s say some crazy shit in here that another organization might not be able to facilitate, but we can, because we can kind of do whatever we want,” says Ramesh.
This is the second time the festival has run this conference, and this year it will be held at Contemporary Calgary on August 5 and 6. The conference is free as part of BUMP’s commitment to making important conversations accessible.
“Typically a conference of this scale with these types of speakers and thinkers, you’re paying $500 plus to be able to access it. We’ve kept it completely free,” says Ramesh.
BUMP’s official kick-off is its tried-and-true graffiti jam and block party. This event includes live graffiti writing, breakdancing competitions, DJs, rap battles, and much more. This year it’s held in Crescent Heights.
“BUMP started out as the Beltline Urban Mural Project, but [now] is reaching throughout the city,” says Chan.
Closing the festival this year is the outdoor “Crashout” party. Focusing on different aspects of street culture, boasting skateboarding, punk music, and an all-night rave, it promises to end the festival with a bang. Crashout takes place in a parking lot just two blocks up from the beloved Red Mile of 17th Ave. S.W.
“I think we’ve really hit our stride in the kind of conversation we’re trying to have with the public,” says Ramesh. “I think how boldly we can speak to the public has expanded. We’re a bigger festival, we’re a braver festival, and we’re a more interesting festival.”
While this year the festival asks, “What if BUMP were a place?”, in many ways, we already live in the social space it’s trying to imagine — it just takes a bit of art to realize it.
“I’m really stuck on the name ‘BUMP,’” says Chan. “My favourite part of Calgary is when it’s really busy out and you bump into the acquaintances, the best friends, the random people you know. Constantly having those little interactions with your community … like, ‘Hey, I haven’t seen you in forever. Let’s go for lunch later. I’m so glad we bumped into each other.’ That’s my version of BUMP as a place, just people being together.”
BUMP takes place August 1 to 18. Find out more about BUMP at yycbump.ca.
