Bradford Council has announced the successful bids to receive funding to support the development of events and festivals across the district in the UK City of Culture year 2025.
The festival fund is a funding programme developed to celebrate Bradford District’s unique festivals and events. The district has over 30 festivals and events across the year that are celebrated in a range of spaces including parks, community hubs and shopping centres.
As part of ‘Culture Is Our Plan’, the Council’s ambition is to support thriving cultural communities across the district, bringing fun, joy, and excitement to the people of Bradford District using arts, culture and heritage activities. This fund is a key driver in delivering that ambition. Arts Council England have supported this year’s funding as part of The Bradford Way programme, a consortium of Bradford Council, Bradford Producing Hub, Cultural Voice Forum and The Leap.
A range of festivals and events will be supported across the five constituencies which will celebrate the rich plethora of cultures we have in our district. From galas to music events to art trails, family fun festivals, film festivals and theatre scratch nights, it’s a chance for creativity to thrive in all areas of the district and for people to participate in range of relevant and fun cultural experiences.
The funding programme, totalling £80,700 so far will support ten festivals and events each of which will receive a fixed funding amount.
The successful applicants include:
- Festival of the Becks 2025 – Builds on 2023 festival and 2024 city-wide events celebrating the Becks, delivered by the Friends of Bradford Becks. This festival links with Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture’s Bradford on Foot project, with various short family-friendly/other art/heritage themed walks alongside Bradford Beck near Valley Road.
- Bradford Queer Film Festival – an annual celebration of LGBTQ+ storytelling onscreen for film lovers and filmmakers, delivered by Castles In The Sky Projects CIC.
- The Mega Drawing Box in the Park – This new imagining of The Mega Drawing Box Project (MDBP) will be a free event across two days as part of the Bradford 2025 Beacon Programme. MDBP is a large white cube installation inviting communities to ‘make their mark’. MDBP will land in Cliffe Castle Park and encourage Keighley communities to connect with nature and creativity through drawing. This project will be delivered by Keighley Creative.
- BRAVE Festival – Black Roots and Voices Expressed, delivered by Tricia Arthur-Stubbs, is an inclusive family festival for arts that have origins in Black culture. This will include performances and workshops at a 2-day festival in October at the Bradford Arts Centre. There will also be community engagement workshops in arts with Black origins in the lead up to the festival. This activity will take place in different wards across Bradford and the participants will then present what they have learnt in the form of performances and an art exhibition.
- Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month 2025 – This festival is a vibrant celebration of Roma culture, heritage, and music in Bradford, delivered by Connecting Roma. Headlined by Čilagos, an internationally acclaimed Roma band, alongside ZOR, Kalo Rom and local artists, the festival will feature live performances, dance, food, and interactive workshops. Hosted in a prestigious location with exhibitions at Romalandia, it will attract audiences from across the UK and beyond.
- DFFB (Drunken Film Fest Bradford) 2025 – DFF (Jacqui ‘Jax’ Griffin) partners with fun and friendly locations such as bars, cafes, theatres, and art spaces to present free pop-up film events. The goal is to create a unique, accessible, and diverse film experience, showcasing high-quality films (with an emphasis on local filmmakers whenever possible) while simultaneously showcasing unique venues.
- MAPA Peoples Day 2025 – MAPA Bradford hosts its traditional People’s Day Festival annually that celebrates the rich and vibrant arts, culture, and heritage of Bradford’s African and African Caribbean community. The event is open to everyone, regardless of age or gender, while also attracting the Black community and celebrating their contributions and experiences.
- Baildon Carnival – Baildon Carnival Association will deliver Baildon’s annual carnival with the themes this year of dance, design and performance.
- Multicultural Arts & Food Festival 2025 – The Bangladeshi Youth Organisation will plan and host this daylong festival which aims to showcase local artistic talents, through live performances, (e.g, juggling show, rapping, poetry).
- BOLD Artist Scratch Night – Andrew Wilson’s BOLD! is a Bradford-based Artist Scratch Night that provides a platform for artists of different live performance/art disciplines to test works-in-progress in front of a live audience. It is a safe and generous space for supporting the cultivation of new audiences and new artistic work.
Cllr Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Healthy People and Places said: “Bradford District has a rich heritage of an amazing range of festivals and events which provide lots of opportunities for residents to have fun whilst celebrating and sharing cultural activities. This funding will allow organisations and people to boost their festival or event and invest in our local communities.
“I wish all the successful organisations the best of luck in delivering their festivals and events and encourage people to take part and enjoy them.”
