Bradford 2025: Culture capital judges visit city

Judges from the UK City of Culture 2025 team have visited Bradford to find out more about what it has to offer.

The West Yorkshire city is one of four on the shortlist, with the winner due to be announced within weeks.

Ten judges, headed by screenwriter Sir Phil Redmond, began the tour at the National Science and Media Museum.

They then visited the Bradford Live development at the former Odeon, as well as Manningham's Lister Mills and the Salts Mill heritage site.

The mill in Saltaire recently welcomed David Hockney's latest work, a 295ft (90m)-long piece depicting the changing seasons of his French garden during lockdown.

The judges also went to Keighley to visit the Keighley Creative project arts hub, and visited areas of investment and regeneration in the district, including the £23m Darley Street Market.

The team saw words from poets, residents and rappers painted on Bradford's pavements, including a quote from city student Iqra Khan: "I come from hope, I come from Bradford".

Her words were picked to be used in the The Word on the Street project, an idea by Kamaal Kaan in partnership with People Powered Press.

The large-scale installations were designed by Oli Bentley and Adam Greasley, and also include the words "Bradford, are you with me, are you there?" from rap trio Bad Boy Chiller Crew.

Bradford was shortlisted for the culture capital 2025 title alongside County Durham, Southampton and Wrexham County Borough.

May McQuade from the Bradford 2025 team, said the judges would see the "creative, bold people we have here".

Charles Dacres, director of Bradford Hate Crime Alliance, said he was looking forward to meeting the judges and showing them what Bradford meant to him.

"We have a lot of things in our district. That is often not recognised," he said.

"There are so many hidden jewels, there is so much cultural diversity. It is the way in which communities connect, the way we are trying to pull together to see a better future."

Mr Dacres added that the visit was not "make or break", as the important thing was that momentum was building around culture in Bradford.

"Whether we win or lose, we have to keep things going. It would be the icing on the cake if they say we are the city of culture."

Meanwhile May McQuade said: "We have spent the last two years talking to people about what they want to see, and now we are putting on a really good show for the judges, so I'm feeling good."

The team's visit comes a day after arts minister Lord Stephen Parkinson was shown around the city.

Shanaz Gulzar, chair of Bradford 2025, said: "I want to thank all the brilliant creatives, businesses, community groups and individuals who pulled out all the stops today to showcase just why Bradford deserves to be the next UK City of Culture.

"We tried to take the expert advisory panel on a journey, not just geographically around the district - but to discover all those things that make Bradford so unique: our heritage, our radical thinking, our boldness, our young people who are hungry for change and want to tell a different story of Bradford.

"I think we demonstrated today that not only does Bradford need the City of Culture title, but we also want it, we're ready for it and it's most definitely our time."

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