In case you hadn't heard, a pretty groundbreaking thing is happening in the city this week: Living Walls has brought some of the most incredible street artists from around the world to participate in the 2012 conference—the first all-female street art conference of its kind in the world. Quite honestly, it's huge for Atlanta, and not just for our city's burgeoning public art scene. We think you should check it out. Here's why:

We're putting Atlanta on the map. With street artists from Zurich, Melbourne, Sao Paolo, Kiev, and Rome (just to name a few) creating their work alongside several of our own prolific Atlanta artists, this conference isn't just relevant here in our city... or even our country. We're goin' global, y'all, and it's damn impressive for artists across the world to watch it unfold. Speaking of watching, international street art website Vandalog is giving LW a whole lotta love—in fact, they're hosting an event on Wednesday at the Wren's Nest, which you should check out. If the world is watching, shouldn't you be, too? (Besides, at least this time we're not showing the world this.

Girl Power. Though LW has been doing its thang for three years now, this year's edition is a first—not just for the organization, but for the world. (See: Reason No. 1) The twenty-six artists participating are all women, making LW 2012 the very first all-female street art conference, ever. The conference even includes a lecture that dives into gender politics within street art, hosted by MoDA.

Improving our cityscape. When you're out on the town, wandering the streets of Atlanta, and taking in the sights and sounds of our city, which would you rather see: this, or this? All y'all in the crowd who prefer their cityscape with a side of creativity, color, and culture: that's exactly what LW is accomplishing. Even the City of Atlanta is on board. For these artists, drab grey concrete or crumbling brick walls are blank canvases.

Creative repurposing. For the Living Walls artists, it's not about the new and shiny. Our city's crumbly old walls are about to be transformed into vibrant public art, and the same goes for an abandoned house in Reynoldstown. It's pretty awesome to watch a group of artists (Nikita Gale, Plastic Aztecs, Knitterati, Patricia Lacrete and Mon Ellis) recreate a ramshackle cottage into a gallery.

It's free. Ta-da! You officially have no excuse to not take a gander at what this coalition is accomplishing. ArtsATL has a rundown of the schedule, which even includes an Edgewood block party that features dancing, DJs, drag, and drinks. Supporting the arts is $%*#ing awesome, y'all. —GC