Play Me, I’m Yours: where the street pianos went, and where to play one now
Play Me, I’m Yours is British artist Luke Jerram’s street piano artwork. Since 2008 it has installed more than 2,000 pianos in 70 cities, played and heard by over 40 million people (per streetpianos.com, October 2026). A city usually keeps them for two to three weeks, then many are donated to local schools and community groups, so most pianos on old project maps are long gone.
PianoSpot is an independent app with no connection to Luke Jerram or Play Me, I’m Yours. This page summarises what the project publishes about itself.
How the project works
The idea started in Birmingham, UK, in 2008, when the Fierce Festival commissioned Jerram to place 15 pianos around the city for three weeks. The project’s site estimates that 140,000 people played or listened to them. Since then the artwork has toured internationally. Each piano is decorated by local artists or community groups, carries the words “Play Me, I’m Yours”, and goes wherever people pass: streets, parks, markets and train stations.
The pianos are deliberately temporary. According to streetpianos.com, the artwork is generally presented in a city for two to three weeks, after which many of the pianos are donated to schools and community groups in the area. That is a lovely ending for the pianos and a confusing one for searchers: the project’s city pages are still online and still rank in search results, but the pianos on them have mostly moved on.
If you want to find out what happened to a particular piano, the project’s city page is the best place to start, since it often names the hosting festival or council. They are the ones who would know whether a piano was donated, kept or retired.
Where it has been
The project’s website keeps a page for each city it visited. A selection, by year:
| Years | Cities |
|---|---|
| 2008 | Birmingham, São Paulo |
| 2009 to 2012 | London (every year), Sydney, Bristol, New York (2010), Barcelona, Geneva, Toronto, Los Angeles, Paris (from 2012) |
| 2013 to 2016 | Boston, Munich, Glasgow, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Stockholm, Florence, Singapore |
| 2017 to 2018 | Paris, Geneva, Munich, Bristol, Tokyo, Shenzhen, Melbourne |
| 2019 to 2020 | Augsburg, Shanghai, Melbourne, Grand Genève (the latest cities listed on the site) |
Sources: project history, figures and post-installation donations from streetpianos.com/about; city list from the streetpianos.com city pages, October 2026.
Is Play Me, I’m Yours still running?
The project’s own list of “cities, current and past” ends in 2020, and we found no newer installation on streetpianos.com in October 2026. The site does say that organisations can bring street pianos to their city, and invites them to email the studio for a 60-page DIY pack.
The name lives on elsewhere. In Spain, Fundación Occident and the Maria Canals International Music Competition run a city piano project presented as “Play me, I’m Yours”, with 2025 dates in Barcelona, Bilbao, Oviedo, Madrid and Valencia. Their page doesn’t say how long the pianos stay out, so check locally before you plan around it.
Where street pianos are now
The bigger legacy is that public pianos became normal. Plenty of stations, airports and city programs now keep pianos out for months or for good, independent of the art project. A few examples you can still play, each checked against a 2025 or 2026 source:
- London St Pancras International has had public pianos since 2012, and a new Kawai upright joined the main Arcade in July 2025 (per Pianist magazine, July 2025).
- Montreal’s Plateau-Mont-Royal runs summer public pianos, also since 2012. The 2026 season at Parc Jeanne-Mance ran from June 15 to August 23 (per Ville de Montréal, October 2026).
- New York’s Sing for Hope puts painted pianos out each spring and keeps a few year-round. See our Sing for Hope pianos guide.
For more, our list of famous public pianos you can still play covers Tokyo, Chicago, Paris and others.
How to find a street piano that still plays
- Ignore old installation maps. If a page is about a festival from 2014, assume the pianos are gone.
- Open a live map. In PianoSpot, the map and list sort pianos closest first, or you can search the city you are visiting.
- Filter for what you need. Choose Street art for painted pianos, Great for condition, and Covered or Indoor if rain is likely.
- Check recent votes. A piano that people voted up last week is a safer bet than one nobody has mentioned in months. Our guide to checking a piano is still there explains why.
- Add the ones you find. If a painted piano appears in your town and nobody has mapped it, drop a pin and a photo. It takes about a minute.
Questions people ask
Who created Play Me, I’m Yours?
British artist Luke Jerram. The first installation was in Birmingham, UK, in 2008, when the Fierce Festival commissioned 15 street pianos for three weeks.
Are the Play Me, I’m Yours pianos still there?
Mostly not. The project says each city usually keeps the pianos for two to three weeks, after which many are donated to local schools and community groups. Old city pages stay online long after the pianos have gone.
How many street pianos has Play Me, I’m Yours installed?
More than 2,000 pianos in 70 cities since 2008, played and listened to by over 40 million people, according to the project’s website in October 2026.
Can my city host Play Me, I’m Yours?
The project’s website says organisations can bring street pianos to their city and invites them to email Luke Jerram’s studio for a 60-page DIY pack.
How do I find a street piano that is playable today?
Use a map that shows recent reports. PianoSpot lists public pianos closest first, labels each Great, Fair or Needs work from players’ votes, and has a Street art filter for painted pianos.