The 2026 Frankston Street Art Festival is happening right now — running from Monday 16 March to Sunday 22 March — and this year is a milestone. Frankston’s CBD will officially pass 100 murals across its laneways, making it one of the most concentrated street art collections in Victoria outside of Hosier Lane.
Now in its ninth year, the festival transforms Frankston’s city centre into a week-long open-air gallery. Nine large-scale murals and projection artworks will be created live across the CBD, with visitors welcome to watch the artists at work. And for the first time ever, there’s also an indoor pop-up gallery where you can see art being created in real time — and potentially buy it.
Quick facts:
- When: Monday 16 – Sunday 22 March 2026
- Where: Frankston City Centre laneways
- Cost: Free (all outdoor murals, tours and workshops)
- Getting there: Frankston Station (Metro line) is a 2-minute walk from the CBD laneways
The Featured Artists
Ten leading Australian and international street artists are painting across Frankston’s laneways this week:
| Artist | Style |
|---|---|
| Arina Apostolova | Vibrant flora and fauna murals — last year’s People’s Choice Award winner, back as a featured artist |
| Buff Diss | Tape and paper installations that play with geometric abstraction |
| Creature Creature | Large-scale surreal characters and dreamscapes |
| Father Marker | Raw, expressive faces and figures with a punk-poster aesthetic |
| Jack Rowland | Hyper-saturated realist landscapes (also showing a solo exhibition at Cube 37) |
| Juzpop | Bold colourful pop-art characters |
| Kitsune Jolene | Japanese-inspired illustration meets Melbourne street culture |
| Mick Russell | Photorealistic portraiture and figurative work |
| Sam Absurd | Abstract layered compositions with neon colour palettes |
| Shaun Devenney | Detailed illustrative murals with community storytelling |
Artists will be actively painting throughout the week, so you can rock up to any laneway, grab a coffee, and watch a blank wall become something extraordinary. It’s genuinely one of the best free experiences in Melbourne right now.
NEW for 2026: The Street Art Studio
This is the big addition for 2026. An empty retail space at Bayside Shopping Centre (upstairs, in the former Toys R Us space off Shannon Street Mall) has been converted into a pop-up street art gallery and live creation space.
When: Thursday 19 – Sunday 22 March, 10am – 4pm
Nine additional artists — including Akuze, Chico Leong, Chuck Mayfield, Manda Lane, Neryl Walker, Silence, Sins Oner, Steve Leadbeater and Tayla Broekman — will be creating murals, graffiti lettering and paste-ups live inside the space.
Here’s the part that caught our attention: selected removable wall sections will be available through a silent auction, giving you the chance to own an original piece of street art created during the festival. QR codes in the gallery will link to the auction site. The gallery stays open every Saturday through to the South Side Festival closing party on 16 May, when bidding closes and winners collect their pieces.
Launch party: Saturday 21 March, 6pm – 10pm. Music, drinks, and a chance to see the nearly completed indoor works. Free entry.
Free Guided Street Art Tours
Frankston’s guided street art tours have claimed gold at the Australian Street Art Awards for three consecutive years — the first destination ever inducted into the awards’ Hall of Fame. The free walks return from Thursday 20 to Saturday 22 March and take you through the stories, techniques and symbolism behind Frankston’s ever-expanding mural collection.
These tours are genuinely excellent. Even if you think you know Frankston, you’ll discover laneways and hidden walls you never knew existed.
When: 20 – 22 March (check imaginefrankston.com.au for times) Cost: Free
Free Street Art Workshops
When: Saturday 21 March, 1pm and 4pm sessions Where: Frankston Library forecourt Ages: 12+ Cost: Free (pre-registration required)
Hands-on workshops where you can try street art techniques yourself. Bookings are essential — register through the Frankston Arts Centre website.
Jack Rowland: Hyper State Exhibition
Running alongside the festival is Hyper State, a solo exhibition by Jack Rowland at Cube 37 (37 Davey Street, Frankston). The series presents realist landscapes reimagined through hyper-saturated, unnatural colour palettes — blurring the line between photography and surrealism.
When: Until Saturday 28 March 2026 Where: Cube 37, Cube Gallery, 37 Davey Street, Frankston Cost: Free
People’s Choice Award
The community gets a vote on their favourite new artwork. Last year’s winner Arina Apostolova impressed the public so much that she’s returned as a featured mural artist for 2026 — proof that the People’s Choice actually shapes Frankston’s street art future.
Voting details are available at imaginefrankston.com.au during festival week.
How to Plan Your Visit
Best day to visit: Saturday 21 March is peak festival day — the workshop sessions run at 1pm and 4pm, the indoor gallery launch party kicks off at 6pm, and all outdoor artists will be painting. It’s the day where everything overlaps.
If you can only do one thing: Walk the laneways any day this week. It’s free, it’s open air, and watching an artist transform a blank wall in real time is something you don’t get to see very often.
Getting there:
- Train: Frankston Station on the Frankston line. The CBD laneways are a 2-minute walk.
- Driving: Plenty of parking in the Bayside Shopping Centre car park (close to the indoor gallery too).
- From the city: About 50 minutes on the train from Flinders Street.
Combine it with: The Frankston foreshore and beach are a 10-minute walk from the CBD. Make a half-day of it — murals in the morning, fish and chips on the beach for lunch.
The Bigger Picture
Frankston has quietly become one of Melbourne’s most significant street art destinations. With 100+ murals now spread across its CBD, three consecutive gold awards for its guided tours, and a growing list of internationally recognised artists choosing to paint here, it’s genuinely rivalling the inner-city scene — without the crowds.
The festival runs until Sunday 22 March. Get down there this week.
For the full program including artist locations and tour bookings, visit imaginefrankston.com.au