MORE than 40 local and British artists will put on a diverse range of free activities and workshops at a bumper Bradford Festival.

The three-day event in and around City Park runs from tomorrow until Sunday and visitors can expect a real eclectic mix of things to try their hand at. There will also be a variety of live music.

Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, portfolio holder for employment, skills and culture, said: "Bradford is a great place for artists, there's a real wealth of experience and talent here. This is a chance for these artists to share their passion and inspire people to have a go.

"There will be a great range of activities, all of which are free of charge. Everyone is welcome."

Bradford-based visual artists Jean McEwan and Lorain Behrans will help people create their own story by making instant books or handmade magazines using collage, coloured pens and pencils, simple printing techniques, stencils and stamps.

Local artist Mussarat Rahman will help people make colourful spice boards, kites, Indian bowls, scrap purses, bags, flower brooches or corsages and ‘gloop soup' with the help of masterful ‘chai wallahs' in an eastern fantasy kitchen.

Bradford arts company Creative Flair will help visitors make colourful bags, aprons, pump bags and cushion covers from recycled material, while women from Yorkshire Life Aquatic will run playful, interactive and comical dryland synchronised swimming sessions in City Park's mirror pool for those who would like to get fit and have fun.

Arts organisation Sponge Tree will help children build a beautiful play-den in City Library and make winged creations from recycled books. Master calligrapher Razwan Ul-Haq will teach Arabic calligraphy.

Leeds-based artists Ellie Harrison, Bethany Wells and Adam Young will create The Unfair, a fairground designed to allow people to constructively express their anger. Participants will be able to play a game of Angry Jenga, write a note and ‘Bottle It Up' or sing along to Angry Karaoke.

Shipley arts collective, Hive Bradford, will help people create a giant stitched, knitted and crocheted ‘line of local colour' art installation, which will celebrate the connections between Bradford's textile heritage and its people.

People can paint in outlines of the Alhambra theatre, Cartwright Hall, City Park and Bradford Cathedral at Idle Art Studio's Bradford Architectural Jewels workshops.

Bradfordians Zareena Bano and Musarat Raza will help people make crowns or photo frames using acrylic gems, mirrors, feathers, glitter, organza, sequins, trimmings, silks and brocades.

And Bradford-based arts organisation Kala Sangam will run workshops making art objects out of recycled materials.

Coming from further afield, Sheffield's Hype Dance Company, who are set to perform boxing-inspired Savage Beauty at the festival, will offer workshops where people can learn basic boxing and dance moves from the show.

There will also be an opportunity to make hand-cut silhouette portraits at a shadow portrait workshop.

African drumming workshops will be offered by Motivate Yorkshire, and children get enjoy storytelling and craft sessions in City Library.

And City Park will be filled with choral singing when 17 choirs gather in harmony for the first time in events organised by Bradford Festival Choral Society.

For more details, go to bradfordfestival.org.uk.