Art Bus shares links between Shakespeare and Bollywood in schools across Birmingham.
DESIblitz are taking their one of a kind Truck Art Bus – a nine seater minibus – to schools across Birmingham on Tuesday 20th June. In partnership with the Everything to Everybody Project, an ambitious celebration of the Birmingham Shakespeare Memorial Library the Punjabi bus will share South Asian material from Birmingham’s Shakespeare Collection and culminate its trip across the city in Centenary Square from 5pm–7pm.
The Truck Art Bus was decorated last year by world-renowned professional truck artist Haider Ali from Pakistan, this is the first time it will make a visit to schools including Ark Victoria Academy, Montgomery Primary Academy, Anderton Park Primary School and Chilwell Croft Academy.
The DESIblitz and Everything to Everybody Project team will share South Asian material from Birmingham’s Shakespeare Collection at each of the stops. The materials – a mix of digitised pages from plays and adaptations and scans of posters – will include a range of South Asian languages reflecting the more than 94 languages that appear within Birmingham’s Shakespeare Collection.
DESIblitz will also share items from their recent exhibition – Influence of Shakespeare on Bollywood – which explores how Shakespeare directly and indirectly influenced Bollywood cinema.
Indi Deol of DESIblitz said: “It’s great that we can get our Truck Art Bus out on the road with the Everything to Everybody Project and visit schools across Birmingham. It’s amazing that right here in Birmingham the Shakespeare Collection features nearly 100 South Asian translations and adaptations and we hope our Punjabi bus can help spread the word with young people, as well as passers-by in Centenary Square.”
The bus tour to the city’s schools culminates in a stop on Centenary Square from 5pm–7pm, outside the Library of Birmingham, so members of the public can see the Truck Art Bus and find out more about the city’s Shakespeare Collection.