Urban Giants Festival: interview with Prosa, founder of We Run The Streets
In recent years, Urban Giants has become one of the most important events on the European graffiti scene. Born in Trezzano sul Naviglio from the We Run The Streets association, the festival has grown year after year, transforming into a benchmark for hundreds of writers from all over the world.
But behind the massive walls, the monumental productions, and the photos that make the rounds on social media every summer, lies an enormous amount of work lasting months and a vision built over time.
We talked about it with Prosa, one of the founders of We Run The Streets and the heart and soul of Urban Giants, to understand what it means to organize one of the largest graffiti festivals in Europe today.
3 words to describe Urban Giants
Prosa:
«Galactic, friendship and respect, historic.
Galactic, like our wall.
Friendship and respect, which our guests show us every year.
Historic, because I think every edition adds a new piece to the history of the graffiti world.»
Urban Giants stems from a background rooted in international writing. At what point did you realize you needed to create something of your own?
Prosa:
«We decided to create something of our own when, after a lot of experience and deep respect for certain circuits that raised us, we started to feel limited by them. We wanted our own format, with rules set by us. Today we have become a benchmark, a project studied even in university theses, and an example for many young people, proving that if you want to do something, you can do it.»
What was the initial goal, and how much has it transformed over time?
Prosa:
«The goal was to have fun, first and foremost, and to build a great project together with the WRTS collective. Over time, it became the biggest graffiti festival in Italy and among the four largest in Europe.»
Coordinating dozens of international artists requires a complex machine: how is the team structured today?
Prosa:
«It’s all very complex. You can't imagine how much work and how many sacrifices go into a three-day event. There are months of planning. The team is made up of the pillars of WRTS – myself, Poms, Zelig, Fosk, and Jin – along with all the friends and affiliates who have supported us for years with dedication and who are always ready to lend a hand the moment we text the WhatsApp group.»
How much does the invisible work weigh compared to the days of the event?
Prosa:
«The work behind the scenes accounts for 99% of the event. It starts with the artwork, designed each year with a different artist, all the way to finding sponsors and preparing over 800 meters of wall.»
Over the years, you’ve managed to grow while maintaining a strong identity. How difficult is it to find a balance between financial sustainability and creative freedom?
Prosa:
«For us, it’s not difficult, because we chose not to make any profit from the event. Everything we get from sponsors is reinvested into the festival, and I say that with my chest out. Urban Giants is unique for this reason too: we put 100% into making every single detail special.»
When building the line-up, how much do the artist's name, the quality of the work, and the ability to contribute to the festival's spirit matter?
Prosa:
«Over the years, we’ve become increasingly selective. Requests to participate keep growing, and a wall of this size needs structured artists, not just writers. At the same time, we want to surround ourselves with charismatic people capable of bringing positive energy. That vibe needs to show not just on the walls, but also in the festival area and in the relationships between people.»
Let's talk about regeneration: what actually changes in the local area after the festival?
Prosa:
«Everything changes. When we buff the graffiti from the previous edition with large blocks of solid color, it almost feels like being in a Northern European neighborhood, and the people who live in the area are caught off guard, as if something belonging to them had been taken away. Then the new pieces arrive, and the walls go back to telling thousands of colors and stories. People come to look at the works, observe them, interpret them. I think the real regeneration happens in people's minds.»
"I think the real regeneration happens in people's minds."
— Prosa, We Run The Streets
What has been the most critical moment in the history of the festival?
Prosa:
«There have been many, maybe too many. The hardest part is seeing your family supporting you in what you do, but at the same time being exhausted and counting down the days until the edition ends so they can finally catch their breath.»
The biggest mistake you made that you wouldn't repeat?
Prosa:
«Honestly, none. We are very meticulous and precise. Each of us has their own alarm bell, and when it rings, the rescue plan kicks in immediately.»
After all the editions you've organized, what is the thing the public sees least, but for you represents the true success of Urban Giants?
Prosa:
«It’s probably the thousands of friends who come to visit us every year. If Urban Giants didn't exist, we wouldn't see many of these people for years. It’s something that maybe only we see, because we experience the festival from the inside.»
Urban Giants has become a benchmark: what makes it different from other similar events?
Prosa:
«I think what sets us apart is the strength we manage to convey in every choice we make and the community we’ve managed to build. Everything stems from shared values and the network we’ve created with other local associations.»
How much does being outside of Milan, in a context like Trezzano sul Naviglio, matter?
Prosa:
«It matters a lot. This is our home. We live here and we want to make it a happy island where everyone can breathe an air made of artistic energy, friendship, and sharing.»
If you had to explain Urban Giants to a writer from twenty years ago today, would you tell them it became what you imagined or something completely different?
Prosa:
«Every year, we bring young writers into the staff with the intention of changing their lives through graffiti, just like it happened to us. The difference is that we built everything from scratch by ourselves, whereas they can inherit something that already exists and is incredibly powerful. If we do a good job with them, in a few years this whole thing will become truly massive. I deeply believe in it.»
If you had to redo Urban Giants from scratch today, with your current experience, what is the first thing you would change?
Prosa:
«Honestly, nothing. After publishing our book, I realized even more how important the bond is that makes our collective so strong. Over the years, we’ve made very few mistakes, all small and useful for fine-tuning our approach for the following edition.»
Conclusions
Talking with Prosa means going beyond the photographs of the finished walls and the grand productions. It means discovering the daily work, the relationships, the trust, and the sense of belonging that make a project like Urban Giants possible.
From his words, it clearly emerges that the festival wasn't born out of an ambition to become the biggest, but from the desire to create something authentic, built according to the values of the We Run The Streets collective and fueled each year by a community that keeps growing.
Perhaps this is the most interesting aspect of Urban Giants: not just the numbers, the international artists, or the over 800 meters of painted walls, but the ability to transform an event into a gathering point where art, friendship, and sharing still coexist today with the exact same spirit of the early days.
At a time when many festivals chase ever-larger scales, Urban Giants instead continues to remind us that the true value of a project is measured above all by the people it manages to bring together. And that is probably its most important masterpiece.
Keep following Urban Giants
If you want to discover all the editions of Urban Giants, see the walls created over the years up close, relive the festival's most meaningful moments, and stay updated on new projects, we recommend following the official Instagram profile.
Each edition is told through photographs, videos, backstage footage, and exclusive content documenting the evolution of the festival and the community that, year after year, continues to make it one of the main landmarks of the European graffiti scene.
👉 Official Instagram:
@urbangiants_milano
