Bradford: A City of Film, our celebration of the district’s cinematic past, present and future, came alive at Ilkley Lido with the launch of our Open-Air Cinema season. Wild Rumpus transformed the much-loved outdoor pool for immersive screenings of Everyone’s Talking About Jamie and Sexy Beast – presented on a big screen under the stars. The season continued in the autumn.

If you saw this in person, you’ll never forget it: Centenary Square transformed by German artist Stephanie Lüning with oceans of rainbow-coloured foam. Island of Foam: Version #40 drew huge crowds to the city centre to watch, marvel and then dive right into this kaleidoscope of colour. Appropriately enough, it all took place on Playday, the UK’s national day for play.

Kate Jackson, acclaimed artist and former singer with the Long Blondes, was our August artist in DRAW!, our nationwide drawing project supported by David Hockney. Hundreds of you took up Kate’s invitation to draw a landscape, as you can see in our online gallery.

Bradford Live, the city’s new £50m venue, opened in August – and we were thrilled to be part of two events in the first month. Yorkshire Calling celebrated Yorkshire Day in the company of Aled Jones, Chris Kamara and the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra, while Bill Bailey brought his side-splitting Thoughtifier show to Bradford for the first time.

The Beacon, our touring venue, staged a packed programme at its penultimate stop – Cliffe Castle Park in Keighley. Special events included S. Production’s charming family show Whale, Where Are You Going?, a big celebration to mark the park’s 75th birthday, Play Bradford’s Mobile Adventure Playground and a MEGA Drawing Box hosted by Keighley Creative.

This month, our BD: Walls street art project brought a bold new artwork to the city centre, paying tribute to four decades of the much-loved community hub, Checkpoint.

We launched a new scheme for people living with long-term mental health challenges – offering free tickets, creative trips out support with transport and a warm welcome.

Hundreds of people living with psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar, severe anxiety and major depression enjoyed trips to the likes of Wild Uplands, The Railway Children and the Turner Prize 2025, as well as comedy, theatre, live music, family events and arts activities.

We also took Bradford 2025 into two psychiatric hospitals, inviting poets, visual artists, singers, dancers and musicians to join staff and patients at Lynfield Mount Hospital and Airedale Centre for Mental Health.

Our Patch, Bradford 2025’s community creativity programme, headed over to MAPA Cultural Arts Centre this month for their annual People’s Day – ‘Bradford’s biggest celebration of culture, community and Black excellence,’ as MAPA describes it. A bassline exhibition and a session from Punjabi Roots were among the highlights of a brilliant day.

Also in August:

• The DRAW! Tour reached The Beacon in Cliffe Castle Park, with another free artist-led drawing session encouraging people to pick up a pencil.
• Our Patch supported the UK’s Summer Reading Challenge by hosting free creative activities in Bingley, Eccleshill, Heaton, Keighley and Laisterdyke Libraries – and at The Beacon.
• Keighley Chorus were back around the piano at Keighley’s Airedale Shopping Centre for another super singalong.
• The Our Patch team also presented free creative activities at a host of summer events, including the Clayton Rugby Club Summer Fayre, the Community Culture Carnival at St John’s Bowling Hub, Yorkshire Day celebrations at Great Horton Cricket Club and in Baildon, and the Tong Village Summer Fair.
• And the communities of Denholme came together to create a colourful mural in Foster Park.

• Penguin Books brought you a free panel event breaking down the publishing process, from the first draft to the bookshop.
• The curtain came down on the Festival of Archaeology at Cliffe Castle Museum with a two-day activity-packed finale.
• Sam Shendi’s sculpture Balancing Acts, part of our PLAY programme for young people and families, celebrated the unique heritage of MAPA Bradford and the diversity of BD5.
• A year after it won the Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Jack King’s Bradford 2025-supported feature The Ceremony received a gala screening at Pictureville.
• Woodland Tribe returned with for another instalment of The Great Adventure Build, inviting young people to build the adventure playground of their dreams.
• A show from iconoclastic singer-songwriter Rich(ard) Dawson, a fun-packed edition of Loaded Laughs and a night of works-in-progress from Bradford artists and performers were just some of the highlights at Loading Bay, our pop-up venue.