Southend City Jam 2026, held 28-30 Aug: Map and Workshops

Southend City Jam runs from Friday 28 to Sunday 30 August, and it is free. More than 200 artists will paint live across the city centre and the seafront over the three days, in what the organisers describe as the festival’s fifth year (Southend City Jam).

The festival map went live on Friday, so you can now plan a route rather than wander and hope (map announcement, Southend-on-Sea City Council).

What is on, and when

Only one of the four needs booking. Here is what each involves:

• Street Art on the Cube is a guided 30-minute spray painting session with the artist Rask, on a cube outside The Forum in Elmer Square. It is the only one that must be booked in advance. Places are free but limited and go through Eventbrite, where the listing is held by Focal Point Gallery.
• Walk-Up Workshop is the seafront equivalent, run by artists K&B on City Beach, with spray paint and no booking.
• Community Doodle Cube at the Forum is paint pens on a giant cube, and the organisers say no experience is needed.
• Pop-up Park on the High Street has more than 15 artists working on two large mural walls. A group of 13 to 17-year-olds will paint alongside the established artists. There is also a pop-up shop from the artist Tom “Welly” Well and a bar run by The Royal Hotel.

Who is painting

The council has named the Australian street artist Sofles as a headline artist for this year. The festival’s own line-up page also features Octofly Art, Woskerski and Jeks among the artists coming to Southend, with the full list on its Meet the Artists page.

Cllr Matt Dent, the council’s cabinet member for business, culture, music and tourism, said the festival “has grown into one of Europe’s largest street art festivals”. He also made the point that most of it does not vanish on Sunday night: “Much of the artwork created during City Jam will remain for people to discover and enjoy long after the weekend is over.”

Finding the murals

The festival map covers both the permanent collection, which you can walk any time of year, and the temporary walls and structures that appear only over the weekend. It opens in Google Maps from the City Jam site, and the council has also put a downloadable version on its Flickr page.

Getting there

The organisers point at the two direct rail lines, which both take roughly 45 minutes to an hour from London (getting here, Southend City Jam):

• c2c from London Fenchurch Street to Southend Central, at the seafront end of the High Street
• Greater Anglia from London Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria, at the top of the High Street by the Victoria Centre

Our Southend train times to London page covers both lines. If you are driving, the A127 and the A13 are the routes in from the M25, and the council’s car parks are set out on our parking in Southend page. If you can arrive by train, it is worth doing: this is the seafront on the August bank holiday weekend, and both main sites sit within a short walk of a station.

One thing to check before you set off from the west. Rockleigh Avenue in Leigh closes at its junction with London Road (A13) from 8am on Thursday 27 August until 5pm on 4 September, for Essex and Suffolk Water. The signed diversion runs via Leigh Road and Sunningdale Avenue, or via Sandleigh Road and Sunningdale Avenue. Residents’ access is kept (traffic order, Southend-on-Sea City Council). It is one of three short closures on the A13 side streets over the next fortnight, all listed on our Southend roadworks and travel page.

What it means for you

• It costs nothing. The council describes the three-day festival as completely free, and the one workshop that takes bookings is free too.
• Book that one. Street Art on the Cube is 30-minute slots on Saturday 29 August only. The listing says places are “free but limited, so early booking is recommended”.
• Saturday is the fullest day. All four listed activities run on 29 August. Friday has the Pop-up Park only, Sunday has three of the four.
• The workshops finish at 3pm, two hours before the Pop-up Park closes, so do those first if you want both.
• You do not have to go this weekend to see the art. The map works all year, and much of the work stays up.
• Planning the rest of the week out? Our things to do in Southend page has the wider list.

Details can change close to an event. Check the festival site on the day.