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Our culture is different because our people are different
A street sweeper in Bradford pauses to look at full length, life size black and white portrait of a smiling Bradford man surrounded by pigeons painted onto the outside stone wall of a city centre shopping complex. Image ©John Bolloten
A crowd of people of all ages and many different races stand behind a safety barrier outside Bradford City Hall in excited anticipation of a special visitor arriving. Image ©Tim Smith
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We are the diverse face of modern Britain. A proud City of Sanctuary whose fortunes are built on centuries of international trade and generation after generation of immigration. They range from the European migrants who created the city’s famous Little Germany to the South Asian workers who powered its mills and the Syrian refugees who are making the District their home today.
We have rich South Asian, East and West European, African, Caribbean and Arab heritages in Bradford, alongside many others. We have many people of Muslim faith with heritage from Bosnia to Bangladesh, making the District one of the most vibrant centres of Islamic culture in Europe. These are amazing cultural opportunities.
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We have outstanding examples of inclusion and intercultural excellence.
City Park and the great Mirror Pool is a shining example of bringing everyone joyfully together in the public realm.
The Bradford Literature Festival has become one of the most celebrated and diverse arts events in the UK.
Mind the Gap is an internationally famous theatre company based in Lister Mill and making work for, by and with learning disabled artists.
Bradford For Everyone is working with dozens of artists and cultural partners to improve community cohesion and integration.
But these are notable exceptions and much of our subsidised arts, cultural and heritage sector is still predominantly white. It is also mainly middle class, while many Bradfordians – brown, black or white – experience poverty, high rates of unemployment and low qualification levels.
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Diverse teams are most successful. We are determined to embrace the cultures that make us what we are today, ensuring exceptional creative work that is relevant to more people in the District.
Consultation for the plan made it loud and clear that the District needs something for everyone but that doesn’t mean it has to be the same for everyone:
‘Look and see who is not actively involved now and do something about them... It’s a multicultural city – harness it, leverage it, transform us.’
‘Bradford somehow seems to think providing the same bland vanilla offer to everyone one will work but it’s boring and in truth it doesn’t interest anyone.’
'I'm a Yorkshire man. I'd like to get back to being a Bradford artist or a Yorkshire artist – my practice is not dictated by my cultural roots.’
Two images of young men in sunshine in Bradford parks. One seated and smiling, gesturing with his hand as if in animated conversation, the other stands confidently looking directly at the viewer. Images ©The Leap