Family tours to run on 8 August
“This is a project John Lennon would have loved.”
Yoko Ono Lennon
Following its spectacular launch earlier this year at the Museum of Liverpool, the brand new non-profit John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, which was opened and made possible by the generosity and support of Yoko Ono Lennon, has begun its extensive tour of Europe and is preparing for its first ever trip to Ireland where it will be hosted by The Ark and the Temple Bar Company as part of its Irish tour this July and August. The visit will offer Ireland’s young people, the general public and artists alike the opportunity to experience this extraordinary vehicle.
Lennon Bus Europe will link with Music Generation Cork City from 25-28 August, Music Generation Laois on 2 August, and will attend The Terence Mac Swiney Community College between 25-28 August. The Dublin leg of its journey from 5-8 August will include stops at O’Connell Street, the National Concert Hall, where the Lord Mayor of Dublin will make an appearance and in Temple Bar’s East Essex Street, where The Ark and Temple Bar Company will host tours of the Bus's facilities.
Since its unveiling, the bus has been stationed in the UK; travelling to Yoko Ono’s Meltdown festival, situated on London’s iconic Southbank, last month, to work with a variety of local charities and artists from the festival. Visitors to the bus included legendary guitarist, Earl Slick, TV personality, Jonathan Ross and Yoko Ono, herself, who made a special guest appearance with local organization, Refugee Youth. ITV News were on hand to document this incredible experience and the music created. Watch the report.
The bus is dedicated to providing the young people of Europe with free hands-on opportunities to produce original music, video, photo, game app and broadcast projects within the its mobile recording studios. Plans for Lennon Bus Europe have been evolving since the first US Lennon Bus hit the road 16 years ago. Yoko Ono Lennon developed the outreach project with Executive Director Brian Rothschild to provide young people with access to state of the art studios as a way of inspiring them to create original projects reflective of their ideas, values, and creativity.
Like its original sister bus in the US, Lennon Bus Europe is staffed by a crew of three producer/engineers, and will travel across the UK and Europe year-round, providing free tours and workshops at schools, retailers, festivals, on tours with headlining artists, and at major industry conferences.
The US Lennon Bus also has an illustrious history as a hit maker, with chart topping singles from The Black Eyed Peas and Fergie recorded on board. Continuing the tradition, the European edition will invite name recording artists to participate, mentor students, and utilise the facilities throughout its journey. The new larger facility boasts two studio environments, robotic video cameras, switchable glass doors that change from clear to opaque for privacy, green screen production capabilities from Reflecmedia, Manfrotto’s Sky Track system for suspending lights, cameras, and speakers, and the new upper level “Peace Deck” created for interviews, live music, DJs, and bands.
Lennon Bus Europe is a unique one of a kind vehicle designed and built by the Ketterer Truck Company, with studio integration provided by Sony Professional Solutions Europe. Interiors were created by designer Tom Junglas. Lennon Bus Chief Engineer, Jeff Sobel worked closely with all parties to produce the perfect environment for students and professionals alike. The UK & European tour schedule and interactive map can be found at www.lennonbus.org, where visitors can also see all of the content created on board. Plans are underway to further expand the project to China and Japan.
Book a family tour on the bus in Temple Bar on 8 August.