‘Defining moment’ for Bradford as full culture bid heads to London

Young people from across the Bradford district have given Bradford’s formal bid to be UK City of Culture 2025 a celebratory send-off as it makes its way to London.

Bradford joins seven other longlisted places from around the UK in submitting a final bid to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on Wednesday 2 February, marking a major milestone in the hotly contested campaign to be crowned the next UK City of Culture.

The full bid contains detailed information about what Bradford’s potential year as UK City of Culture would look like, with thousands of spectacular events, increased access to culture, and innovative new uses for the district’s historic settings all in the pipeline. Hundreds of people and groups from all across the district have contributed to Bradford’s bid in some way, and young people in particular have been instrumental in outlining their ambitions for the landmark year.

Representative of Bradford’s young people – who have either been involved in the bid writing process or are part of the district’s creative community – came together in the city centre to give the bid the final ‘seal of approval’ before posting it off to the judging panel in London. Among the assembled group of young people are Ambassadors from Bradford Council’s Youth Service, Healthy Mind Apprentices who teach music skills to other young people, and members of Bradford 2025’s Equality and Inclusion Reference Group.

Shanaz Gulzar, chair of Bradford 2025 said: “This is a defining moment for the district. All the hard work over the last 2 years has generated an energy right across the district, giving rise to new collaborations, connections and creative conversations which have helped us create what we feel is a winning bid. Thousands of people have helped shape Bradford’s bid and while we can’t say too much at this stage as we want to keep our bid to be full of surprise for the judges and our citizens, it’s very much by Bradford and of Bradford. It’s also timely as Bradford was recently named by an independent report as the city with the most to gain from the levelling up agenda. It seems everyone is realising what we’ve long known; Bradford is a city with huge ambitions, and so much potential.”

“At the heart of our bid is our young people, and I’ve been so impressed by their enthusiasm and aspiration; they really have embraced the opportunity to play a far more active role in shaping their future. We’ve done all we can and now it’s over to the judges. But thank you Bradford, we really do believe this is our time.”

An independent panel of judges will now review the bid submissions and up to four places will be shortlisted in March. Judges will visit the shortlisted cities in April/May before announcing the winner at the end of May.

Sunrise Radio (media partner for the bid) spoke to listeners about their thoughts about the bid:

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" I have heard about Bradford 2025 and hope we can win! We deserve it!" Waseem aged 19

"Winning will hopefully reignite the passion for what is a beautiful city" Kathryn aged 40

"Lets bring the trophy home" Ali aged 12

"Its going to be tough but we definitely have a chance! Back the bid everyone!" Aaliyah aged 20 

Bradford 2025 is the district’s bid to be UK City of Culture 2025. Awarded every four years by Government the UK City of Culture title has had a transformational impact on previous host cities, securing millions of pounds of investment and acting as a catalyst for creative place-making and culture-led regeneration. Bradford district’s bid is backed by Bradford Metropolitan District Council with the University of Bradford as a strategic partner.

Bradford 2025 is driven by the Cultural Place Partnership which includes Bradford Council, University of Bradford and other representatives of the cultural sector and national funders. The bid forms part of Culture is Our Plan – Bradford Council’s cultural strategy until 2031.

In July 2021, Bradford district was officially named as one of 20 UK locations bidding for the title, the highest number of entries in the competition’s history and a resounding show of confidence in the transformational impact the designation can afford.

Eight longlisted locations were announced by the DCMS in October 2021 and include Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, Bradford, Cornwall, County Durham, Derby, Southampton, Stirling and Wrexham County Borough.

Up to four places will be shortlisted in March 2022 ahead of the winning location being announced in spring 2022.

Corporate partners for Bradford UK City of Culture 2025 bid include:

FOUNDING PARTNERS

● Emerald Group Publishing

● Telegraph & Argus (LOCALiQ)

● Rushbond PLC

● Morrisons PLC

● The Broadway, Bradford

● Bradford Bulls

● Jinnah Group

BID CHAMPIONS

● ITC

● Platinum Partnership Solicitors

● Bombay Stores

● Regency Hall

BID PARTNERS

● CityFibre

● Exa Networks

● Schofield Sweeney

● Bradford City Football Club

● My Lahore

● Muse Developments

● Arup

● Bradford BID

● Welcome to Yorkshire

● Naylor Wintersgill

● Expect Distribution

● Great Victoria Hotel

● Yorkshire Building Society

● Balfour Beatty

● Faithful+Gould

● Sovereign Health Care