Bradford unveils its launch as City of Culture, 2025

VaselineJune 28, 2024

0 3 minutes read

Bradford unveils its launch as City of Culture, 2025

The New Comedy Awards, Contains strong language poetry festival, a The country file special and a BBC Bitesize Schools Tour are just some of the creative and cultural highlights coming from the BBC to mark Bradford as UK City of Culture in 2025.

The city of Bradford has had a long and distinguished history of writers, artists and other cultural icons. The Brontë sisters, David Hockney (who has a permanent exhibition at Salt’s Mill in Saltaire), JB Priestley and John Braine (one of the Angry Young Men novelists of the late 1950s) all hail from Bradford. So it’s no surprise that Bradford has been announced as the UK’s next City of Culture for 2025.

Diversity of talent

More recently, the city’s vibrant and diverse cultural mix has created even more talent for Bradfordians to showcase. Over the course of the year, there are over a thousand events promised – many of them free. As well as events in collaboration with the BBC, these include Four Nations: A Portrait of Us – a new nationwide photography project commissioned by Impress Gallery and Bradford 2025, and a parade of towering red giraffes on 24th August!

Keighley based artist and producer Shanaz Gulzar has recently been appointed Chair of Bradford City of Culture. She explained a bit more about what will happen:

“Bradford Borough covers 144 square miles and our projects are borough-wide. One of our projects is to work with the Royal Institute of British Architects to design a peripatetic place so that we can bring as much as possible to the people of the region. We also work with communities to give them agency to create their own work and present their own projects.

“We hope that the legacy of the project will be increased confidence, creativity and an infrastructure that will continue to provide opportunities in arts and culture for the people of Bradford.”

Film and TV

Bradford has also had a long relationship with film and TV production. The National Science and Media Museum (temporarily closed) has presented visual media art and technology for over 40 years. Bradford 2025 will feature film and TV production with some of its partners. Screen Yorkshire’s Adeel Amini outlined some of their plans:

“We collaborated with Bradford 2025 to make three short films, produced by Hollie Bryan. I’ve already held workshops with the people who will be part of it, advising on pitching, writing, resilience and well-being. I would like to see sustained investment in the region to ensure that these creative activities can continue beyond 2025.”

The BBC is the official broadcast partner of Bradford 2025. Katrina Bunker, Head of BBC Yorkshire, confirmed that the BBC supports local voices and works with local communities:

“We are bringing national programs to Bradford. Programs like The country file and Bargain hunters it will be placed in the city and region so that people here can see their city represented. We are also connecting with new talent – for example through BBC Bitesize, which will offer all secondary schools in the Bradford district Bitesize Careers Tour.

“The BBC New Comedy Awards will also form part of Bradford 2025, with the grand final being hosted in Bradford. We want to show young people that jobs in the cultural industries can be done in Bradford – you don’t necessarily have to move to London to do this kind of work.”

A very interesting year

This view is supported by Tim Davie, director general of the BBC. Davie has previously expressed its commitment to investing in local creative economies with its Across the UK strategy.

“Bradford is home to vibrant, authentic storytelling and proud multicultural communities,” he told us. “We will draw on this rich history to bring people together through the joy and celebration of the arts, poetry, film, comedy and much, much more. It is a great honor to be part of a legacy that will no doubt attract thousands of tourists and millions of pounds of investment to this extraordinary city.”

Katrina Bunker added: “2025 promises to be an amazing year for Bradford. The BBC is the best place to capture all the excitement, ambition and energy that the UK City of Culture will bring to the region. We will have coverage of the development and all the highlights through our online, radio and TV services. It’s going to be a very interesting year.”

If you are interested in volunteering or just finding out more about Bradford City of Culture 2025, click here.

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