THE KING’S ART BUS / ONE BUS · ONE REGION · ONE SEASON
A museum that
comes to you.
The King’s Art Bus is a mobile art history and cultural learning experience for ages 8 to 22. When it is closed it is an institution: matte black, quiet, serious. When it opens, it becomes a campus: a gallery, a workshop, a stage and a pop-up show, set up wherever it is invited. One bus, one region, one season first.
Concept rendering, not the final vehicle
WHERE THE MUSEUM NEVER GOES
Most young people will never stand in front of one.
Museums are in a few neighbourhoods of a few cities. The bus goes to the rest: a school parking lot, a rec centre, a library lawn, a county fairground. It is built for young people who have not been told that art history includes them, and for the communities that are ready to host it. The pilot season runs in one region, to be announced.
Ages 8 to 22, in rural communities and inner cities alike.
Schools, after-school programs, Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCAs, libraries, municipalities and families.
Because the distance between a young person and a museum should not decide what they get to imagine.
WHAT STEPS OFF THE BUS
The bus is the anchor. The program is bigger than the bus.
Inside, an exhibition. Beside it, tables with paint, clay and paper, a guest artist at work, a small stage, and a pop-up gallery where local artists show and sell their own work.
The gallery
Archive prints, living artists and art history, hung inside the bus.
The workshop
One medium per stop: drawing, paint, clay, collage or print, at tables beside the bus.
The artists
Teaching artists lead; a guest artist works and speaks. Every artist is paid.
The pop-up
Local and emerging artists show and sell their own work at the stop.
A DAY AT A STOP
Arrive. Tour. Learn. Make.
Then meet an artist, see a performance, find out what a curator does, walk the pop-up, and leave with somewhere to go next.
- 01ArriveThe bus pulls in; the campus unfolds beside it.
- 02TourInside the exhibition: prints, artists, history.
- 03LearnA short talk: what a museum is and who works in one.
- 04MakeWorkshop tables, one medium, everyone makes something.
- 05Meet an artistA guest artist works in front of the group and answers questions.
- 06PerformanceMusic or spoken word on the small stage.
- 07CareersCurator, conservator, registrar, designer, educator: a wall and a conversation.
- 08Pop-up galleryLocal artists show and sell.
- 09Follow-onA sign-up, a library card, a reason to come back.
BUILT ON WHAT ALREADY STANDS
This history is documented.
The King’s Exhibition has already travelled. The archive is live. The Foundation has served for decades. The bus is the next room of a house that already stands.
Fulton County Southwest Arts Center, presented with Fulton County Arts and Culture. Free public admission.
GIRAFFE, 34 Peachtree Street, alongside one hundred Georgia artists.
Pop International Galleries, 195 Bowery, presented with The Book Bank Foundation.
The works travelled; the room opened its doors to the public.
Twenty-five records of early New York hip-hop, presented with their history at this exhibition.
A 501(c)(3) in good standing, serving Atlanta and New York with books, meals and shelter.
The archive preserves the culture. The bus carries it forward.
Readiness
- Book Bank Foundation, 501(c)(3), registered and in good standing (thebbf.org, transparency section)
- Rights and content clearances · in progress
Before the first stop with young people, the program will hold vehicle and general liability insurance, youth-program coverage, background checks for every adult, a written child-safety policy, accessible access, host-site agreements and incident procedures. Items appear here as they are completed.
THE NUMBERS, HONESTLY
A working model, not a promise.
One bus, one region, one season. Every line below shows its assumption. Where a figure is a benchmark it says so; where it waits on a decision it says so. The season is modelled on booked days, never on ticket sales.
The pilot model: one bus, one region, one season
| Line | Assumption | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Capital, one time | ||
| Vehicle, purchase or lease | Class chosen for the pilot; a used vehicle if capital is short | To be confirmed |
| Retrofit | Gallery walls, lighting, climate, power, awning, lift · comparable mobile museum and mobile classroom builds | Benchmark |
| Technology layer | Screens, projection, audio, any immersive station, scoped to the curriculum | Benchmark |
| Deployment kit | Tents, tables, easels and the first season's stock | Benchmark |
| Livery and signage | Matte black, gold line; no sponsor marks until signed | Benchmark |
| Compliance items | ADA, permits, deposits for the pilot region | Benchmark |
| Contingency | A stated share of the lines above | To be confirmed |
| Capital required for the pilot | Sum of the lines above. Shown when every line above is confirmed. | |
| Operating, one season | ||
| Program coordinator | One, employed | To be confirmed |
| Driver | Contracted; licence class follows the vehicle | To be confirmed |
| Lead educator | One per stop | To be confirmed |
| Teaching artists | Two per stop, an honorarium each | To be confirmed |
| Guest artist or speaker | One per stop where booked, an honorarium | To be confirmed |
| Fuel, maintenance, storage, parking | Per mile and per month | Benchmark |
| Insurance premiums | Auto, general liability, youth-program coverage · broker quote | Benchmark |
| Supplies | Per participant per stop | Benchmark |
| Booking, marketing, evaluation | A share of coordinator time plus tools | To be confirmed |
| Curatorial fee or in-kind | Per the program agreement with The King's Exhibition | To be confirmed |
| Operating cost for the season | Sum of the lines above. Shown when every line above is confirmed. | |
| Revenue, one season | ||
| Institutional bookings | Day rate times booked days: schools, after-school programs, clubs, libraries, municipalities · rate is the founder's; comparable host fees are a benchmark | To be confirmed |
| Sponsorship | Roles by what is funded; no amounts until the cost lines exist | To be confirmed |
| Public-stop tickets | Secondary; free or low at public stops; never carries the model | To be confirmed |
| Pop-up gallery commission | A stated share of artist sales, if any | To be confirmed |
| Merchandise | Optional and small | To be confirmed |
| Grant subsidy needed | Operating cost minus earned revenue: the figure the Foundation asks for. Shown when every line above is confirmed. | |
If the pilot proves what we expect, the next step is a second region, then a fleet built to travel city by city. Pilot, proof, replication, then the fleet.
PUT THE BUS ON THE ROAD
Three ways in. Three different things.
Book a stop.
For your school, club, library or city. A booking is a program fee, not a donation. Tell us where, when and who, and we send the program outline and the terms.
Propose a stop ↗Give to the Foundation.
A gift to The Book Bank Foundation funds the pilot. A gift is a gift, and the Foundation’s own tax language applies.
Give to the Foundation ↗Sponsor a role.
Name the bus for the season, fund a city, a stop, a workshop, a technology experience, the art supplies, an artist, or the road itself. Benefits are stated and their value is disclosed.
Start a conversation ↗Partners will be named by category first: technology, museum, youth organisation, host city, philanthropic foundation, artist and cultural organisation. No organisation is named here until an agreement exists.