University of Birmingham: DESIblitz Truck Art shares links between Shakespeare and Bollywood
DESIblitz are taking their one of a kind Truck Art Bus – a nine seater minibus – to schools across Birmingham on Tuesday 20 June. In partnership with the ‘Everything to Everybody’ Project 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.
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.
Indi Deol – DESIblitz
The ‘Everything to Everybody’ Project is an ambitious celebration of one of the UK’s most important cultural assets: the Birmingham Shakespeare Memorial Library – not just the first great Shakespeare library in the world but also the only great Shakespeare collection which belongs to all the people of a city.
The ‘Everything to Everybody’ Project is a collaboration between the University of Birmingham and Birmingham City Council, with funding contributed by National Lottery Heritage Fund and History West Midlands ‘Everything to Everybody’ will give this uniquely democratic Shakespeare heritage back to people and communities across Birmingham.
To achieve this, ‘Everything to Everybody’ is working in conjunction with anchor institutions and arts organisations such as DESIblitz.com.