First programme announced for Bradford’s tenure as UK City of Culture 2025

An outdoor theatrical event created by magician Dynamo, the Turner Prize, tributes to the Brontes and an adaptation of The Railway Children in the locations used for the classic film are among the events announced for Bradford’s tenure as UK City of Culture 2025.

The first part of the year-long programme was unveiled on Thursday, and included a nation-wide drawing project supported by David Hockney and a musical event created by composer Charles Hazlewood and artist Jeremy Deller celebrating the music of the West Yorkshire city.

Events and performances will spread from the city to the towns, villages and green spaces across the district, running from January to December.

Organisers say it will celebrate Bradford as “a forward-looking city of change” and “one of the most diverse communities in the UK”.

Speaking at a briefing on Thursday, Charles Hazlewood said his musical project The Bradford Progress would probably “start somewhere on a moorland crag with someone singing or playing”, and grow as it snakes its way to the city centre for “one last giant hurrah”.

He told the event: “We are so excited to be coming here to Bradford, what an amazing city, it’s a city that wears its history on its sleeve.”

Programme highlights announced this week include:

– A large-scale outdoor theatrical event created by the district’s own magician, Steven Frayne (formerly known as Dynamo) and directed by Kirsty Housley, will launch Bradford 2025 (January 10-11).

– DRAW! is a nation-wide drawing project inspired and supported by David Hockney with people across the UK invited to take part.

– The Bradford Progress is a musical journey throughout the district created by Paraorchestra, Charles Hazlewood, Jeremy Deller and the people of Bradford (May).

– The Turner Prize will be hosted at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery (from September).

– Akram Khan collaborates with Dance United Yorkshire for a new intergenerational project Memories of the Future, featuring 60 dancers drawn from communities across Bradford, inspired by Akram Khan’s Jungle Book reimagined (July).

– Wild Uplands will see four new contemporary visual artworks created by national and international artists inspired by Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights placed across Penistone Hill Country Park (from May).

– Four fantasy writers and illustrators from Ghana and the north of England revisit the Brontës’ imaginary world of Angria for a new collection of stories and animations to be published as part of the annual Bronte Festival of Women’s Writing (September).

– Bradford 2025 is paying tribute to Andrea Dunbar, marking 45 years since the premiere of her first play The Arbor and 35 years since her death, with staged readings of selections from her works.

– The National Science and Media Museum will reopen in January 2025 following a multimillion-pound transformation and feature a new digital installation by Marshmallow Laser Feast (from April 2025).

– Film director Clio Barnard (Ali & Ava, The Selfish Giant) will curate a series of films from working-class northern women at the National Science and Media Museum’s Pictureville (February).

– Mike Kenny’s Olivier Award-winning adaptation of E Nesbit’s The Railway Children will take place on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway line, a place familiar to millions from the adaptations of the classic novel (from July).

– Ice Age Art Now presents work by people living in Europe at the end of the last Ice Age, some as much as 32,000 years old (from June).

– The first UK City of Culture exhibition to include all four nations of the UK will travel to four cities, featuring local heroes from Bradford, Cardiff, Glasgow and Belfast photographed by Aida Muluneh, as part of a series of new artworks from the acclaimed Ethiopian artist (from January).

– Opera North takes up residency across the year with an immersive sound walk featuring new music from three leading composers inspired by the music of Bradford-born composer Delius (from May); the Orchestra of Opera North join forces with bassline musicians, singers and DJs for Bassline Symphony (May); singing and performance workshops in schools (year-round), and the company’s first ever performances of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra (April).

Music will be key to the programme including: a three day contemporary-classical New Music Biennial (June); Big Brass Blowout, a weekend celebrating brass music of all kinds – including Bradford’s Black Dyke Band, one of the world’s oldest brass bands (April); Dialled In will lead a celebration of contemporary South Asian music (August); and Asian Dub Foundation will livescore the French thriller La Haine to mark the film’s 30th anniversary (January).

Shanaz Gulzar, Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture creative director, said: “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to celebrate our extraordinary cultural heritage, and for our young population to become leaders and changemakers, starting a new chapter in the story of Bradford.”

Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, said: “This celebration of talent born and bred in the city will help to get more people of all ages and backgrounds involved in cultural events, creating good jobs and opportunities for young people.”