Bradford awarded almost £20m for City of Culture celebrations

Culture Minister Stuart Andrew visits Bradford’s 2025 new headquarters in City Park yesterday to announce the funding.

It is in addition to the £10m that Bradford Council has promised the year of culture.

During his visit Mr Andrew said he was sure Bradford would do as good a job with the City of Culture year as Liverpool did when it hosted Eurovision earlier this year.

It has been announced that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has awarded Bradford 2025 £10m, with a further £5m coming from National Lottery funding through the Arts Council, and another £4.95m from the National Heritage Lottery Fund.

Bradford was named 2025 City of Culture last Summer, and since then it has been announced that approximately 1,000 performances will take place in 2025. The various events are expected to attract 15.5 million visitors and bring an additional visitor spend of £136.9 million into the local economy over the course of the year.

During his visit yesterday, Mr Andrew said: “This is a very diverse city, and you will get a very diverse experience from the City of Culture.

“The fact that Bradford has the youngest population in the country, and the fact they have got so many young people involved in this means we will see long term benefits.

“The creative industry is a growing part of the economy, and this will give young people more opportunities for the future.

“It will create an estimated 7,000 jobs by 2030 and bring an enormous amount of investment into Bradford.

“You look what happened in Liverpool and Hull, City of Culture transformed those cities. People will see this District’s creativity and want to invest here.

“I’ve been told that when the team has called for applications from artists and creative groups the number of responses has far exceeded their expectations.

“The other thing that makes this unique is that it is the first City of Culture that will also have a rural element to it. It stretches out as far as Keighley and Ilkley so this will be a different type of City of Culture.”

The announcement last May that Bradford had been awarded City of Culture (Image: newsquest)

He prepared Bradford’s ambition to that seen when Liverpool won the bid to host Eurovision. He said: “Liverpool had really ambitious ideas, and they pulled it off brilliantly. I think that’s exactly what we’ll see here.”

Pete Massey, Director of Arts Council England in the North, said: “We’re delighted to provide this. We provide funding for all Cities of Culture, but we’re especially pleased to do this for Bradford. It is great to see lottery player’s cash being invested in something on this scale.

“I suspect that Bradford year of culture will be the biggest we’ve seen yet.

“The thing that singles the Bradford team out was how well they know Bradford, and the fact that it is a District wide bid – not just a bid for the city.

“They are already putting out commissions for artists across the District.”

He said the Arts Council had been particularly impressed by the work to involve Bradford’s young people in the bid.

Talking about the support the Arts Council will offer the 2025 team, he said: “What often happens is you get big ticket events like the Turner Prize or Radio One Big Weekend come to Cities of Culture, and I’m sure the team will be able to make connections like that themselves.

“But we can help them facilitate other events and make contact with other groups.”

Eilish McGuinness, Chief Executive at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said the money from the group will help “shine a light on the city’s fascinating heritage when it takes its City of Culture crown in 2025.”

Shanaz Gulzar, Creative Director, said: “This funding demonstrates what we’ve been working on for the last seven months. I hope this funding demonstrates the confidence of these funders in 2025, and their commitment to it.

“It will help us drive things forward to the next level.”

Dan Bates, Executive Director of City of Culture, said: “Bradford deserves this money, but we’re not done. There is more money to raise, more support to gather from business and local people.”

He said it had been a big ask for Bradford Council to provide the £10m funding, but pointed out that this had now been matched by a further £20m from other organisations.

Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, Leader of Bradford Council said: “The funding announced today is further evidence of the willingness to invest not just in a global Bradford and in the cultural and physical regeneration of our city, but in the young people who will help shape its future.”