A BRADFORD based arts group has told a packed audience in America how they have used “absurd” events to bring people back to forgotten parts of the city.

The Brick Box were speaking at South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, one of the world biggest festivals of technology, film, music and arts.

Their panel, Absurdity Sells: The Value of Playful Events, saw the group speak to a crowd of around 600 people from around the world about the various events they have held in Bradford over the past few years.

The Brick Box relocated from London to Bradford in 2016, and recently set up a new base on Ivegate, transforming the former Crown pub into a venue for arts, music and theatre events, and taking over the running of a neighbouring pub - which now hosts events including poetry recitals. They have also held street events on Ivegate and organised the 80th birthday party for David Hockney in Lister Park.

The most unusual of their events have been the “Wild Woods,” which saw the former Marks & Spencer store in Darley Street turned into a indoor woodland.

The evening events attracted thousands of people, and featured music, art, local traders, an LGBTQ booth, dance floor and one even featured a pop-up mosque.

Co-directors Eleanor Barrett and Rosie Freeman told the crowd how the unusual events had brought diverse groups of people from across the district and beyond to areas of the city that are seen as forgotten.

They had used crowdfunding to help pay for their trip to Texas to speak at the festival. The Brick Box’s panel, held earlier this week, was featured in local paper the Austin Chronicle, which said: “In the post-industrial town of Bradford, England, the group defied popular stereotypes of a dangerous, divided city by taking over an abandoned department store on a street where 90 per cent of the surrounding buildings were closed down.”

After the panel Miss Barrett told the Telegraph & Argus: “It was really popular. We were talking a lot about Bradford and how important it is to get communities together and make a positive impact on the city.

“We were getting people from all over the world coming over to us and asking if they could work with us.

“It was great because a lot of people had never heard of Bradford before this panel. They were asking how they can use the same approach we’ve used in Bradford in their cities.