The scope and scale of the Wonderwalls Wollongong festival is set to increase this year - in line with the community's tolerance of street art and graffiti.
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Festival founder Simon Grant said the inaugural festival last year opened many people's eyes and minds to the art form and more business owners had offered their walls as canvases in 2013.
"The aim of the festival is ultimately to shine a positive light on the work done with aerosols," he said.
"We want people who are interested in these art forms to see Wollongong as a place that can cut it with the rest of the world.
"Bigger projects like these are being done throughout Europe and America and we're catching up pretty quick here with this festival."
During the three-day event, which kicks off on Friday, 15 walls in the Wollongong CBD, from the rear of the Harp Hotel to the rooftop of the GPT building, will be transformed.
The murals will be bigger than previously - with the largest on Burelli Street opposite Wollongong Youth Centre measuring nine metres by six metres.
The works will involve 20 featured artists including Wollongong's Bafcat, Syke and Trait as well as national and international artists such as Smug (Glasgow) and Askew (Auckland).
And hundreds of cans of paint.
"For instance, we've allowed 400 cans for the Burelli Street mural which should take [artist] Smug around 50 to 60 hours to complete," Mr Grant said.
The festival is a collaboration between Mr Grant's graphic design and events business Verb Syndicate and artists' group The Hours.
Mr Grant said this year they were also working in conjunction with Wollongong City Council, the GPT Group and Destination Wollongong.
"They've jumped on board and helped us out with a couple of the bigger walls," he said. "This year, we wanted to put a big emphasis on the city centre. The council and GPT are working hard on what they're doing in and around the CBD and we want to complement that as well."
Mr Grant said as well as changing the community's perceptions of street art, he hoped the festival would add to the creative culture of the city.
"We want the Gong to show its creative side and hope to get people from Sydney coming down to the festival so they can see that regional centres are invested in street art," he said.
The program and map of mural sites is at wonderwallsfestival.com.
