During the four-day event, more than 25 local, national and international street artists worked separately and in concert across twenty building facades chosen to be covered.
The festival ended with a free musical show presented in collaboration with Osheaga, the Oshee & Aga Block Party, headlined by DJs Ryan Emsworth, Grandtheft, Prison Guard, KenLo Craqnuques and Jeanbart & RRKelly.
MURAL also worked with ExCentris Cinema to present screenings of street art and graffiti related short films.
Every day, the MURAL Block Party had live stage music in the parking lot behind Station 16 Gallery on St. Laurent.
[7] In 2016, MURAL co-organizer Andre Bathalon mentioned his goal for the festival: for attendees to watch artists at work, so they can gain an appreciation for the detail that goes into each piece.
"[7] For the first time in festival history, ScHoolboy Q—a popular rap artist—performed on a stage in the main "performance" parking lot on St.
Aaron Li-Hill, Canadian artist living in New York, also produced a large-scale art installation to adorn Saint-Laurent Boulevard all summer long.
This art piece covered two floors of the underground parking lot at Lune Rouge entertainment company headquarters, in the heart of downtown Montreal.
[22] This year, artists such as Spidertag who installed colourful LED lights in different shapes and forms on the side of a building that lit up at night, Joshua Vides who presented a black and white decorated Mercedes-Benz car, and Laurence Vallières who created a large-scale sculpture from recycled cardboard materials all which presented new forms of art to the festival and city of Montreal.
[21] Musical live performances took place during the festival, featuring local artists such as Milk & Bone, Moonshine, and Alaclair Ensemble.
[23] Instead, the Mural Festival team set up an "Estival", which means summertime in French, that lasted throughout the summer from June to September on Saint-Laurent Boulevard as usual, but also online.
[24] This new version of the festival included the physical street work of mural artists from Quebec and live streams of music performances and digital art animations that happened over a period of three months.
[24] During the Estival, guided tours of murals were available to the public in small groups upon reservation to ensure the respect of sanitary measures and social distancing.
[26] During the first phase of Mural Estival (June 21stto August 21), the Corridart infrastructure showcased the work of 12 artists that painted live on outdoor canvas along Saint-Laurent Boulevard.
The French Canadian artist Francorama (aka Franco Égalité) painted his work Together Apart With Street Art on an outdoor terrace that was installed on Saint-Laurent boulevard.
[29] The launch party of phase 1 of Mural Estival was performed online by the artists Hologramme, Nana Zen and Nate Husser.
For the second phase of the Estival, the launch party was performed by Les Louanges and Random Recipe and was streaming on Mural Festival's Facebook page live from the PHI Centre.
[30] Other musical performances occurred online during the Estival, notably from Claudia Bouvette, Clay and friends, Cozy, Dead Horse Beats, Kirouac & KodakLudo, and Lou Roots.
[33] The project was funded by the city of Montreal, alongside the donors Brian Levitt, Jonathan Wener, Marcel Elefant, Sari Hornstein, Rossy Family Foundation, J. Gerry Shapiro, and Murray Dalfen.