Behind the DSAF

Proper Creative is a partnership between David Collins and Jesse Bell, both with a background in Darwin and NT graffiti and street art. In a 2022 interview, Jesse said they began about six years earlier as two separate sole traders who went on jobs together before merging into one business. Their first big job was painting 10 bus stops along McMillans Road on a small grant, followed by a mural at the Top End Sounds music shop. They've offered workshops, exhibitions, graffiti and crime-prevention murals, and small group projects since.

David Collins from Proper Creative then pitched, created and managed the Darwin Street Art Festival in 2017, and has been the festival director for the decade since - even being awarded a Churchill fellowship to Philadelphia and LA to investigate art as a tool for restorative justice.

Proper Creative Major Mural projects across the NT

Big Rivers Portrait Series (Katherine) 2019 - 2022 with Katherine Regional Arts
Keturah Zimran's "Puli Puli", Litchfield Carpark 2020 - with Ikuntji Artists
Jabiru water tower - 2021- with Marrawuddi Arts and West Arnhem Regional Council
Minmarama basketball court - 2022 - with Activate Darwin
Darwin Airport "Darwin Didgeridoo" water tower (41 m) - 2022 - with Darwin International Airport; design by Anthony Duwan Lee
Shoal Bay tank artwork - 2022 -wiith Trent Lee, City of Darwin
Nakara Oval amenities block mural - 2022 - with City of Darwin

Proper Creative Youth Work

David's background is youth engagement and disability services and spray painting is an easy way to engage young people. Proper Creative have worked with Anglicare NT's U-Turn program for young people at risk, Red Hot Arts in Alice Springs, Barkly Arts in Tennant Creek, and Papunya and the Daly.

Darwin Street Art Festival: Mural growth

2017: 8 murals. 2018: 16 murals in the CBD. TravelgatewayTravelgateway
2020: 9 murals in Shadforth Lane. Nt
2023: 31 artists, 22 new murals and seven pop-up walls. The lineup included Adnate, Aches, JESWRI, Gonketa, Filthy Ratbag, Kitt Bennett, Tisha Teya and Jason Lee. ABC News
- Gonketa painted Darwin's first mural using Auslan symbols.
- Adnate's mural at Travelodge Resort Darwin honours two Larrakia children, made after consulting the Fejo family and Elders.
- The festival started with murals in Alice Springs, Pine Creek and Katherine before reaching Darwin.
2024 (eighth edition): George Rose, Fintan Magee, Heesco and Creature Creature, alongside local artists including Gindy Legs, SKHETCH, Kris Keogh, Piper Kidd, Jesse Bell and Jason Lee. Nt
2025: 24 May to 15 June, with over 30 artists. The festival's site says it reached 149 large-scale murals as of 2025. DSAFDarwinstreetartfestival
2026 (tenth year): eight new permanent murals by Indigenous artists, two pop-up walls and a gallery mural, and a Darwin collection of 167 permanent works, up from 71 five years earlier.

Darwin Street Art Festival workshops & public activations

2019: Colour by numbers public activation - community mural in Darwin CBD
2023: Public free workshops with prominent artist Kitt Bennett
2023: Artist talk with Filthy Ratbag
2024: Free public graffiti lettering workshops with UpnUp
2025: Artist Talk with prominent female and non-binary artist panel during the DSAF
2025: Double Exposure free workshops for digital artists up to 25 on scaling up their work for a one-night outdoor projection exhibition. They were developed with the City of Darwin's LAUNCH youth program.
2026: Bench Talk live podcast recording at the DSAF
2026: Delivered the Off Cuts Exhibition in partnership with Chapman & Bailey and Qubit Gallery, raising $9,000 for three local youth-focused organisations through the Off Cuts Exhibition.

Darwin Street Art Festival Emerging Artist Program

2021 - 2026: Pop-up walls in high foot traffic locations across the festival period, giving at least 9 emerging artists each year a chance at painting at scale, without the pressure of a permanent wall
2026: Red Dust and Garawa Designs made a pop-up wall at the Waterfront.
At CDU there was a Rhenz and Jason Lee collaboration, plus first public murals by FullColdBlood and Ris Pickalla.

Darwin Street Art Festival Cultural Collaborations

2023: Morgan Lavapo and Robert Banasi came to the Northern Territory from PNG for the 2023 festival, their first time travelling overseas, and they collaborated on a mural combining their distinct styles. A PNG Contemporary Art Exhibition ran alongside the festival.
2023: DFAT x DSAF - The Australian High Commission in Nairobi commissioned three female artists to collaborate on a Kenya/Australia mural as part of a wider rejuvenation of the Wasanii Corner, an outdoor space for emerging artists at the Kenya Cultural Centre in Nairobi.
2024: Tangi Street Art Festival (Bali): an "in conversation" with artists, and a new mural in Darwin CBD part of the cultural exchange program.
2025 Double Exposure: As part of the Kenya x Australia cultural exchange through DFAT - huge projections by Kenyan and Australian artists were projected as a showcaseon the same night, in both Nairobi and Darwin.
2026 Laundry Gallery and Tjupi Arts worked with DSAF artists to commission and create a Vimy Lane mural designed by Doris Bush Nungarrayi.
Two new Indigenous art trails, at Charles Darwin University and the Darwin Airport Resort.