First programmes announced for Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture

Bradford is the second-largest city in England’s West Yorkshire county, behind only Leeds. Its population of around 560,000 people is one of the youngest cities in the UK.

With a median age of 36.8 years, more than a quarter of the city is under 20 years old. For its year as UK City of Culture, Bradford’s programme aims to put the youth at the heart of its broad cultural programming.

Bradford-born artists, local organisations and national cultural programmes are celebrated in the first announced set of events. Local magician Steven Frayne (known by stage-name Dynamo) will kick off events with the Kirsty Housley directed theatre work ‘Bradford 2025. RISE’ on 10-11 January.

This will be followed by a year-long nation-wide drawing project ‘DRAW!’ inspired and supported by Bradford-born artist David Hockney. Following in the internationally-celebrated artist’s own practice, people will be encouraged to participate in any format that suits them, from pencil to iPad.

The Turner Prize, the UK’s most prestigious art award will be hosted at the city’s Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, in the year celebrating the 250th birth of JMW Turner, the prize’s namesake artist.

Emily Brontë’s ‘Wuthering Heights’, the Victorian classic novel set on the local moorland will inspire multiple events throughout the year. The moorlands will be the home of four new artworks called ‘Wild Uplands’ as well as the annual ‘Brontë Festival of Women’s Writing’ in September.

Film director Clio Barnard, known for her Bradford-set films The Arbor, The Selfish Giant, and Ali & Ava will curate a series of films from working-class northern women, behind and in front of the camera at the National Science and Media Museum’s Pictureville, Yorkshire’s biggest independent cinema.

Even more events and programmes have already been announced, including theatre projects, immersive city tour sound walks, history exhibitions, and classical and contemporary concerts.

“I am delighted to announce the first events in the programme for Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, which showcase the exceptionally rich, diverse talent that Bradford holds. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to celebrate our extraordinary cultural heritage, and for our young population to become leaders and changemakers, starting a new chapter in the story of Bradford,” said Shanaz Gulzar, Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture Creative Director.

In 2013, Derry/Londonderry was the first city to be named UK City of Culture. After that, the year-long programme has included Hull (2017) and Coventry (2021).

Chosen every four years, the City of Culture competition is run by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and invites cities to set out a vision for culture-led regeneration.

Coventry, the last city to win the contest received over £15.5 million (€18.35 million) in support from the government for festivities, with a further £100 million (€118.41 million) raised in capital investment.

Bradford was chosen for its heritage as a former industrial powerhouse to its current cultural push, including the city becoming the world’s first UNESCO City of Film.

It is one of the youngest and most diverse cities in the UK and its appointment as the 2025 UK City of Culture will lead to huge investment and drive the culture sector to grow even further over the course of the year.