WHITECROSS Street is set to host a party dedicated to local street artists this weekend.

Every year since 2010, the group behind the party has taken over the area for a weekend of cultural events aimed at celebrating radical community.

This year, organisers said the festival will include its best line-up yet.

For the past 14 years the street party has invited local community groups and artists to bring the street to life for a weekend through performance and street art.

“Our line-up is the strongest it’s ever been,” Julia Pond, head of marketing for the party, told the Tribune. This year’s programming includes over 30 artists from the Whitecross community, in partnership with community-focused organisations, such as LoudFutures and Soapbox.

“It’ll be a more diverse show this year,” Ms Pond said. “We’ve renewed our focus on celebrating the radical histories of Whitecross Street by involving every aspect of the community.”

“Our link to the area’s radical culture comes from its inherent non-conformist history,” she said, referencing various historical landmarks in the area which point to the street’s progressive past, one of which was the local Bunhill burial site which broke social norms by representing many different social classes.

“Our approach to the area’s radical history is done by programming inclusive events, which represent the communities living in Whitecross today. We don’t want it to be about memorialising the area.”

The street party located all along Whitecross Street, just steps away from the Barbican, attracts over 5,000 people from Islington and the wider city each year. As the organisers see it, it’s a bit of a local secret.

Not only does the event give a stage to mural artists who will create paintings meant to stay on long after the weekend is over, it also provides a space for many other types of street performers from Islington.

The two main stages – there are separate word and music venues – will see performances from local spoken-word poets to Saddler’s Wells’ Breakin Convention.

“This is great, because our connection to street art is intrinsically linked with hip-hop culture, and breakdance is such a large part of that,” said Ms Pond.

Organisers were also excited to announce the participation of larger organisations, such as the Barbican which will be hosting a film and panel event on the subject of homelessness in tandem with the YMCA, one of the main sponsors of the street party.

The event will take place tomorrow and Sunday, July 13 and 14, from noon to 6pm each day.