The St+art India Foundation’s almost month-long street art festival, has taken off in Mumbai. The festival has 20 artists and the overall aim is to make art more accessible for the common man. This means art has moved out of galleries, seen rightly or wrongly as elitist, open to a few and no-go zones for people of a certain social strata, to the streets. It is an attempt to demystify art and to make the people feel that ‘arty’ does not mean intimidating.

Certain streets, buildings and public infrastructure are to benefit through this festival. Art is going to breathe new life into grey, lacklustre street walls and alleys. Infrastructure is going to get spiffy, thanks to the art infusion which will bring some creativity to some banal buildings.