The festival is organised annually by Romuald Popłonyk, a "jack of all trades" and real traveller who has performed in a variety of street art festivals. Some time ago he decided to bring a similar festival in his native city of Wroclaw, which now draws artists from all around the world. They come up with something unusual every year.
The BuskerBus is one of Poland's most colourful and gleeful summer festivals. Musicians, clowns, circus artists, mimes, acrobats, live sculptures and puppet artists entertain the public in the city centre. They are right at your fingertips and develop their shows together with the audience who is always invited to engage with the artists. They accept no strict boundaries between the artist and their audience. This non-profit initiative has been organised since 1997.
This year's BuskerBus is touring Wroclaw (21-23.08), Zielona Góra (25-26.08) and Krotoszyn (28-30.08). This year's BuskerBus Festival features nearly 50 artists from all corners of the world, be it Argentina, Austria, Greece, Japan, Germany, Spain, Australia, Italy, Brazil, Denmark, Mexico, Great Britain, Bulgaria, France and Poland. The festival line-up provides for 35 different shows such as fire shows, comedians, clowns, jugglers, acrobats and tightrope walkers, stilt artists, mimes and musicians playing a variety of unusual instruments. Read more about the artists.
The line-up brings both newcomers and those who have performed in Wroclaw in previous years. They perform in Wroclaw's Rynek and in ul Oławska between 2 pm and 5 pm and 7 pm and 11 pm, respectively. Each artist presents their 30- or 60-minute programmes twice a day. The shows are free of charge, but no artist will get cross with you if you put some change in their hats.
"I won't tell you who is this year's highlight or whose show is going to be most surprising because we accept no rankings here at BuskerBus. All I can tell you is that it's going to be interesting," says Romuald Popłonyk. "We as organisers are also in for a surprise as many artists have accepted our invitation at the very latest. We are open here at BuskerBus, and the artists, as it befits all buskers, are spontaneous and love improvisation." Mleczarnia is this year's BuskerBus official festival club.
In May 2015, the BuskerBus International Street Art Festival was awarded the EFFE 2015-2016 badge, a special distinction presented to European festivals which promote creativity, benefit local communities and are also important on European and global levels.
