History of Festival
The first Melbourne Stencil Festival was held in a former sewing factory in North Melbourne in 2004. The 3-day exhibition attracted audience numbers far beyond expectation. Its sell-out show became soon talk of town amongst those who had visited the festival and those who had missed out.

The 2005 festival featured a 10-day exhibition at the newly refurbished Meat Market art complex. The festival was supported by the City of Melbourne and saw more than 700 visitors on the opening night. In 2006 the festival moved to Fitzroy, the heart of street art in Melbourne, and was held at the Rose St Artists Market. For the first time the 4-day event was also held in Sydney. It received reviews in major mainstream media in Melbourne and Sydney.

 In 2007 the festival featured a total of 75 artists from 12 countries with more than 300 works. More than 4000 visitors attended the Melbourne event with 500 people on the opening night alone. It also attracts a wide range of media coverage including daily newspapers, community radio and street press. It toured regionally with the support of Arts Victoria to Ballarat, Sale and Shepparton, and on its own effort interstate to Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.

In 2008 the festival again attracted large numbers with over 5000 people attending. International artists from Iran, France, German, Portugal and USA, joined Melbourne’s best artist producing the most diverse display of stencil art in the festival’s history. The draw card of the festival was the live spraying events which generated stunning collaborative pieces that were strongly sought after in charity auction.