Bradford City of Culture team planning programme to celebrate title

Over several months, Dan Bates and I have been building the Bradford 2025 leadership team to bring us to a position where we can accelerate the delivery of the ambitions demonstrated during our winning bid campaign. As part of this process, we’ve attracted some of the best talent in the district and wider region to join our team. I’m pleased to reveal via this column that we’ve been able to bring Ben Pugh back to Bradford as our Head of Production and Event Operations. Ben’s professional career started in the city, and he’s been (literally) behind the scenes, helping bring to life many of the city’s events.

When it comes to discussing how important event production is to the arts and cultural sector, no one speaks better than Ben, so I’ll hand over to him to give you a glimpse into how we’re approaching the practicalities of delivering wide-ranging events across our year as UK City of Culture.

Ben Pugh, Head of Production and Event Operations at Bradford 2025 writes: My professional journey began in Bradford over 25 years ago and since then I’ve worked on events of all sizes and scale across the district. However, you’re more likely to recognise the events that I worked on rather than me personally, owing to the nature of my work being ‘backstage’. My role involves working with artists and creative teams to help them shape and develop their ideas. This then feeds into co-ordinating all the different elements of an event across the whole creative toolkit from designers, fabricators, sound, lighting to digital and tech suppliers, event production teams and contractors - to deliver amazing live experiences.

I’ve worked on performances, installations, and events in all manner of settings, from traditional venues, found spaces, and rural locations, to broadcast and digital platform projects. During 2004-2009 I ran Bradford Festival and Mela, supporting a team of 2,500 contributors and developing systems and approaches that fostered good working relationships across suppliers to make the event a success.

To create engaging and memorable experiences during our UK City of Culture year, it’s crucial to develop relationships with suppliers, contractors, partners, and venues as early as possible. The scope of ambition for our 2025 programme will, I hope, pose a welcome creative and practical challenge for event and production suppliers locally, creating a demand never seen before.

Encouraging people to reach further and higher requires embodying a real sense of passion and shared endeavour, giving people agency. Regular contact, conversation, and consultation, supported by fair and transparent procurement systems, are crucial for success and that’s why Bradford 2025 has brought production into the creative leadership of the organisation right at the start of the journey.

There is an incredible opportunity through production to demonstrate Bradford’s entrepreneurial spirit and realise one of the key ambitions of bidding for UK City of Culture - to increase the job opportunities within Bradford. In the immediate, that may require skilled professionals from the wider region to bolster resource in the city, while professional development opportunities for local talent from the likes of Bradford Producing Hub, run alongside elements of delivery.

At the core of my practice is the principle that “knowledge of the technical makes creativity possible.” By focusing on understanding the creative ambitions of a project, production staff can ensure that the full potential of an idea is realised within the available resources. By thinking about production from the conception of the programme, we’re able to create a working environment where the creative development process aligns with the skills of the production and delivery team. Time is critical - we all know how important play is for the development of our brains in childhood and our recovery from ill health - and this ability to create solutions together is a key element of artistic practice that isn’t always given the breathing space to allow people to reach their full potential. I also have responsibility for essential policy (including sustainability and access), as well as risk management practices that audiences never see (and understandably take for granted). These are embedded in our approach from day one, and ultimately keep staff, volunteers, suppliers and audiences safe at events, allowing them to happen and provide an opportunity for thousands of people to experience cultural work in spaces that might not traditionally be venues for the majority of the year.

The role that I and many of the wider Bradford 2025 team do may not always be visible, but it is central to what you will experience in 2025. The development of policies, practices, frameworks and the nuts and bolts of procurement, supplier engagement and development, recruitment and negotiations are all underway to allow us to deliver the creative vision that secured our win. I feel the hunger from both the sector and residents to see what we have planned. While 2025 feels like a long time away, it provides the time we require to prepare a programme that gives the city something to be proud of and a legacy for years to come.