Thirty three pieces of colourful paintings and lyrical poetry were on display today at a special exhibition to launch the Dublin Bus Children’s Art Calendar 2013.

The pieces, created by primary school children from 25 schools across the Greater Dublin area, are the result of the annual Children’s Art Competition run by Dublin Bus. As part of the Dublin Bus Community Spirit Initiative, dedicated School Co-ordinators visit primary and secondary schools across Dublin and use different techniques to communicate how to use and respect public transport in their area including talks, exhibiting antisocial behaviour DVDs and on bus CCTV demonstrations.

As part of this programme, Dublin Bus holds an annual Children’s Art Competition in national schools. This year, over 2,000 children from the 25 schools entered the competition. A selection of the winning entries was chosen to be displayed in this year’s calendar which is in its 11th year. The competition promotes the value of public transport in local communities to younger passengers and creates awareness of the negative impact of anti-social behaviour on buses for the local community itself.

Chief Executive of Dublin Bus, Paddy Doherty said at the opening of the exhibition: “The vibrant art in this calendar displays the skill and creativity of young artists in Dublin. It is fascinating to see children’s interpretation of the role the bus plays in their community even in Dublin Bus’ 25th anniversary which we marked last year.”

You can see all the images from the day on our Facebook page and view each piece of art displayed in the calendar here.