A group of four artists have taken part in a competition to trek across Europe in time to make an appearance at the Edinburgh Festival, using only their talent for money.Two cellists, a classically-trained singer and an award-winning portrait painter will fight to win £10,000 by busking across the continent.
Working in teams of two, the group started their challenge in Athens, Greece, with no money or credit cards for the Sky Arts show The Art of Survival.
Singer Lindsey Crow and cellist Li Lu competed against artist Johan Andersson and cellist Janie Price in the race, featured in a six-part series which starts tonight (July 21st).
“It’s probably the daftest thing I’ve ever done, but the kindness of people we met was incredible,” Ms Crow told Essex news paper The Echo.
She has been busking for five years, which has helped to fund her degree at York University and at London’s Academy of Live and Recorded Arts.
Meanwhile, Ms Price told Sky News of motivation to spend 40 days travelling 1,753 miles and not knowing where you are going to sleep each night or eat.
“I wanted to explore whether it was possible to survive purely on your art,” she said.
“At no point did we know what was around the corner and that was the biggest thing to get used to, you never knew where your next euro was coming from.”
The cellist, who has been playing since she was six years old, explained that she also had to carry 27kg during the journey.
Ms Crow noted that in addition to the competition, the group would give themselves other challenges such as booking a four-star hotel in Venice with just €8.
“We had to busk all day and into the night in St Mark’s Square to be able to afford it,” the singer remarked.
“It’s amazing what you can achieve and what people will give you in return for music.”