A BRADFORD-based arts group will travel to Texas to tell an international crowd how “absurd” events have brought forgotten parts of the city back to life.

The Brick Box turned the former Marks & Spencer shop on Darley Street into an indoor woodland for a series of events in 2016 and 2017, and has more recently been using the former Crown pub on Ivegate to host a variety of artistic and musical events.

In March the group’s founders will take part in South By Southwest, one of the world biggest festivals of technology, film, music and arts. Eleanor Barrett and Rosie Freeman will be part of a panel titled Absurdity Sells: The Value of Playful Events on March 12. Their work in Bradford will be discussed before a crowd of visitors from across the world.

They will be joined by Henri Mazza from the Alamo Drafthouse, a theatre group that has been credited with regenerating areas of Texan cities.

The Brick Box relocated from London to Bradford in 2016, and since then has turned Darley Street into a dancefloor as part of its series of Wild Woods events, which saw a woodland set up in the M&S store, and has held a River of Light event in Ivegate, featuring music and street art.

The events have attracted thousands of people from Bradford’s different communities and across age groups, as well as people from outside the district.

Later this year they will be holding a public art event in Helsinki.

Miss Barrett said: “We’re going to be talking about the types of events we have been doing in Bradford and other cities.

“It is one of the biggest festivals of its kind. Our presentation will be in front of a lot of people from the industry. We’ll also have the chance to do a lot of networking and push the message of how exciting Bradford is. We want to make sure people know it is an exciting place to do business.

“It is all about taking a leap of imagination, about how you can do things like create a woods in a department store. You have to break through the limits of what people think is possible in a city.

“There is a serious message behind it all, how you can meet challenges as a community and use public spaces more effectively.

“What we do could be replicated all over the world. It is good to know it has been done in Bradford first.”

The group has raised half of the funding towards the flights and accommodation, and is currently crowdfunding towards the remainder. To donate, visit gofundme.com/from-bradford-to-texas-return.