UK City of Culture 2025 judges visit Bradford

Bradford welcomed the UK City of Culture Expert Advisory Panel today (May 10), taking the panel of 10 judges – headed up by Sir Phil Redmond CBE – on a district-wide tour of the city.

The panel attended a special ‘welcome’ event at the National Science and Media Museum to hear introductions from key Bradford 2025 partners including Bradford Council, University of Bradford and the Born in Bradford project, as well as Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin.

The panel then split into two groups to take in as much of Bradford’s cultural landscape as possible, and to hear ambitious plans for how a City of Culture year could be game-changing for the whole district.

As part of the city-centre focused element of the tour, the panel wore hard hats for a behind the scenes tour inside the former Odeon building at City Park. They were there to see the transformation in progress at the iconic art deco building, which will reopen as the 4,000 capacity Bradford Live, set to be one of the country's best live entertainment venues.

They were also taken to Kala Sangam Arts Centre and met some of the district’s leading voices in the live performance scene. This includes Animated Space, Bent Architect, Bradford Producing Hub, Common Space, Dance United Yorkshire and Freedom Studios, all of which have played a key role in bringing to life the stories of Bradford’s diverse, multicultural communities.

To showcase the capital investments currently underway in the city, the Expert Advisory Panel were taken through the streets of Little Germany to see the £23 million flagship Darley Street Market. This will include a 750-capacity performance venue and the historic ‘top of town’ area which is included in Bradford Council’s 10-year vision to create a vibrant ‘City Village’ of around 1,000 attractive new homes and for business to trade, invest and grow.

The second panel group toured Manningham where they visited the landmark Lister Mills, once the beating heart of the global textile industry and now home to more than 300 residents and a thriving cultural community.

The panel were introduced to members of Mind The Gap - England's leading learning disability performance and live arts company – whose studios are based at the mill - and heard more about how Bradford’s heritage buildings will play a key part in Bradford’s City of Culture year should it win, using the recent imaginative ‘Mills are Alive in Manningham’ live projection show to highlight the point.

The group then set off to Keighley to meet the artists behind Keighley Creative, a new arts hub which has ambitious expansion plans as part of the Towns Fund proposals.

The panel were also introduced to a number of faith leaders across the district, with visits to the Hindu Cultural Society and Bradford Central Mosque – and introductions to the Indian Women’s Association, Punjabi Roots Academy and Amal Foundation.

With young people at the heart of its bid, as Europe’s youngest city (29% of its population is under 20 and nearly a quarter under 16), the judges met some of the young people who have been instrumental in shaping Bradford’s bid.

They also heard from several of the organisations in the district such as Allstars Entertainment – which aims to break down the barriers on young people accessing music making opportunities and Speaker’s Corner Collective – a creative social space led by women and young girls to bring people together to create positive action – all working to inspire and empower a whole new generation of creatives.

All panel members came together at Salts Mill in Saltaire for a lunch attended by over 150 of the district’s creative, business and community leaders.

Shanaz Gulzar, chair of Bradford 2025 added: “I want to thank all the brilliant creatives, businesses, community groups and individuals who pulled out all the stops today to showcase just why Bradford deserves to be the next UK City of Culture.

"We tried to take the Expert Advisory Panel on a journey, not just geographically around the district – but to discover all those things that make Bradford so unique: our heritage, our radical thinking, our boldness, our young people who are hungry for change and want to tell a different story of Bradford. I think we demonstrated today that not only does Bradford need the City of Culture title, but we also want it, we’re ready for it and it’s most definitely our time.”

The Expert Advisory Panel are visiting all four of the shortlisted places which also include County Durham, Southampton and Wrexham County Borough, before a winner is announced at the end of this month.