When financial pressures abruptly shuttered the Vancouver Mural Festival last year, after nearly a decade of turning neighbourhood walls into vibrant public canvases, the city’s street art scene lost its biggest stage.

But instead of letting the paint dry, artists like Drew Young, one of the festival’s founding curators, are reigniting the movement with this weekend’s Astro Arts Festival.

Young and his collaborators are launching a grassroots comeback, transforming a corner of Mount Pleasant into an outdoor gallery. Thirty-five new murals will be unveiled, while 30 artists paint live on-site, creating works ranging from graffiti and traditional street art to large-scale experimental pieces.

“We want to continue the legacy that was started with the Mural Festival,” Young told Postmedia.

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