Bradford 2025 today announces highlights of its ambitious finale season that will close out the district’s tenure as the fourth UK City of Culture, with extraordinary experiences that honour the city’s radical past, youth-powered present and visionary future.
Shanaz Gulzar, Creative Director of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture said,
“Our finale season is a powerful reflection of everything Bradford 2025 stands for, bold ideas, local voices, and a deep connection to our heritage and future. We’re telling stories that haven’t always had space on national stages, from the radical women of Manningham Mill to the secret joy and defiance of the daytimers raves, and cementing Bradford’s role as one of the UK’s most exciting, welcoming and creative cultural destinations. Our programme celebrates who we are now, honours where we’ve come from, and allows us to imagine where we’re going next. As we approach the culmination of Bradford’s time as UK City of Culture, we invite everyone to come together to reflect, celebrate, and to ensure Bradford is seen in a new light.”
STRIKE (3rd – 5th October) is a spectacular show that will transform the architecture of Manningham Mill, the site of a mass 4 month walk-out by 5,000 workers in 1891, spotlighting the radical women who led the strikes, which paved way to the formation of the Independent Labour Party. Created by Urban Projections in collaboration with BITEZ the new artwork will use light and projection and an accompanying soundscape, to pay tribute to pioneering Bradford women who have helped shape not only the district, but also the wider world.
A new mixed reality experience goes back to a time when young South Asians found joy in defiance, community and music, and stood up to the fascist rhetoric of the National Front. Built by Sound (20th November – 14th December) is scripted by Nikesh Shukla (The Good Immigrant) and multimedia journalist and filmmaker Shehani Fernando, bringing together personal testimonies, archival footage and a stirring soundtrack to explore the trailblazing secret daytime raves, known as ‘daytimers’, in Bradford in the 70s and 80s.
The finale season features new productions at Loading Bay including: Elmet, (22nd October – 2nd November) based on Fiona Mozley’s Booker Prize-shortlisted novel, adapted for the stage by Bradford-raised writer-director Javaad Alipoor with music by The Unthanks, We Are Still Asafo (7– 9 November) written and directed by Liz Mytton drawing on inspiration from the experiences of the African diaspora across West Africa, the Caribbean, and the UK, and Life Class, a new play exploring the truth and beauty of getting older, written by 509 Arts’ Alan Dix and Mike Kenny, who returns to the Bradford 2025 programme following his adaptation of The Railway Children over the summer.
Nisbet Road Tailor’s Shop (31st October –23rd November) is an immersive recreation of South Asian tailors a time where Bradford saw waves of migration from the 60s onwards from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. Out of these tailor’s shops and textiles stores emerged a new type of style rooted in British Asian culture. The exhibition sources from local fabric stores, archival pieces from Bradford’s Museums and Galleries, as well as original textile installations by Zain Ali – designer, artist and founder of the ZN ALI fashion label.
Bradford Arts Centre, opening in the coming weeks following a £7.9m restoration of the Grade II listed building, presents a series of events that have been supported by Bradford 2025; Bradford South Asian Festival (10th – 12th October), BRAVE (Black Roots and Voices Expressed) Festival (18th & 19th October), Bring It Back – a new high-energy theatre experience with heart, humour and heavy beats from by Natalie Davies (23rd – 25th October), Tech Styles International (14th & 15th November) showcase of hip hop culture, and Common/Wealth’s 29% Festival inspired and led by Bradford’s young people & young artists (28th & 29th November).
The Turner Prize 2025 exhibition is at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery from 27 September 2025 to 22 February 2026. This year’s shortlisted artists are Nnena Kalu, Rene Matic, Mohammed Sami and Zadie Xa, with the winner announced on 9th December. A local visual arts festival OUR TURN will take place alongside, (17th September – 28th January) in venues and unusual spaces across the district featuring exhibitions from emerging artists, an open-call art show and newly commissioned work.
Coinciding with the opening of Turner Prize 2025 is the Brontë Women’s Writing Festival, which includes an exhibition inspired by the Brontë’s fictional world of Angria, a fantastical kingdom that maps directly on to the coast of West Africa. Wandering Imaginations (24th September – 31st December)showcases the stories and animations by Fantasy and Sci-Fi writers from Bradford and Ghana.
A year-long programme of independent film, Bradford: A City of Film, continues with an Open-Air Cinema screening of The Others (31 Oct), taking place at the eerily overgrown manor ruins at Milner Field. Celebrating Bradford’s status as the world’s first UNESCO City of Film, the upcoming programme includes Widescreen Weekend at National Science and Media Museum (25– 29 Sept) and Bradford International Film Festival (28 Oct – 2 Nov). Screenings with live music include BFI National Archive’s restored Silent Sherlock: Three Classic Cases (17 Sept), and F.W. Murnau’s 1922 Nosferatu, with a newly commissioned live soundtrack by Ben Gaunt and Frame Ensemble (2 Nov).
Bradford 2025’s Our Patch programme which breaks down barriers to cultural participation by bringing the arts right to the community’s doorstep continues, with more than 500 creative projects delivered in libraries, hospices, playgrounds, cafes and community centres across all 30 wards in the 141 square mile Bradford district.
The year culminates with Brighter Still (20th & 21st December), the closing event for Bradford 2025, taking place across the winter solstice as the world turns from dark to light. A joyous and moving large-scale outdoor event bringing together dance, music, light, fire and food, it stars hundreds of people from across the district, including dancers, poets, choirs and a community cast. It is a chance for everyone to gather and celebrate who we are and the ties that bind us together. Open-call recruitment sessions for the community cast take place on 5, 6 and 16 of September.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said,
“Bradford 2025’s closing season perfectly captures what makes this UK City of Culture so special – stories told by local people, celebrating the rich heritage and diverse communities that define Bradford.
“This programme demonstrates how culture can transform places and bring communities together while putting local voices at the heart of cultural celebration.”
INFO & tickets: bradford2025.co.uk
Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture is delivered by Bradford Culture Company, a charity supported by public investment from HM Government, Bradford Metropolitan District Council, West Yorkshire Combined Authority and through National Lottery funding from Arts Council England, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, The National Lottery Community Fund, Spirit of 2012, British Film Institute and a number of trusts, foundations and corporate sponsors.
Categories
Tags
- BITEZ
- Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture
- Bradford 2025: UK City of Culture
- Bradford Arts Centre
- Bradford: A City of Film
- Brontë Women’s Writing Festival
- Cartwright Hall Art Gallery
- Mohammed Sami
- Natalie Davies
- Nikesh Shukla
- Nnena Kalu
- Rene Matic
- Shehani Fernando
- Turner Prize
- Turner Prize 2025
- UK City of Culture
- Urban Projections
- Zain Ali
