BRADFORD’S first opera festival, a travelling show set on a HGV and a scheme to reduce isolation among new mothers are among the projects to receive arts funding from Bradford Council.

The Council has announced the latest round of successful applications to this year’s large arts, culture and heritage grants, with seven projects being successful.

They will share a total of £74,000. Projects that have been supported in this latest round of grants include

• Bradford Opera Festival – a first for the city, which will feature ‘The Barber of Seville’. Rossini’s classic will be remade for Bradford by Ian McMillan, with the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra and a diverse cast. There will also be two pop-up operas by new artists who will be engaging new audiences with the communities and young people across the district.

• Displace Yourself Theatre is working on a project leading to a theatre production called a ‘World Without Death'. The project will be a travelling show set on a HGV truck exploring “life, death and everything in between.” Based on the Norwegian Folk Tale ‘The Boy Who Tried to Cheat Death’ the production is part performance, part gig and part revolt, with some of England and Bradford’s most exciting artists. Starting in February 2024 and spanning six months, the project will engage with communities across the district and internationally in the lead-up to Bradford 2025.

• Freedom Studios is creating a project called ‘Bradford Voice’ with a vision to re-imagine theatre and new writing in the Bradford district. The aim to amplify South Asian, ethnically diverse, working-class and young people’s voices.

• Castle in The Sky Projects is developing ‘OUT OUT’ - a drag and cabaret project. As part of the project, there will be a residency for four days and a year-round residence programme for artists based in West Yorkshire. The project will also deliver two new commissions to enable showcasing of live art spaces.

• Holding Time Project will be working with WomenZone and Singing Mamas to deliver a 10-week course of singing for wellbeing workshops tailored to the needs of new mothers. The project will aim to reduce social isolation and the symptoms of post-natal depression as well as improve mental well-being and encourage breastfeeding.

• Keighley Association for Women and Children’s Centre is running a 36-week project that will enable 50 South Asian women to explore the creative use of calligraphy in their culture and develop calligraphy skills while simultaneously breaking their isolation and adopting approaches that positively improve mental wellbeing.

• Fundraising For You will celebrate Black inventors. The project seeks to design and build a mobile exhibition that captures a rich heritage.