BD: Festival, Bradford’s much-loved free weekender, returned in July 2025 – and to celebrate our year as UK City of Culture, it was bigger and better than ever, with performances across the city centre. Highlights included:

• A Good Yarn, a massive three-metre yarn ball created from donated and discarded fabrics by 2,500 residents of BD10 – and then rolled through the streets into the city before going on display at Bradford Industrial Museum.
• Zee and the City, a thrilling street adventure that wound its way through the city centre – created especially for Bradford 2025 by puppetry pioneers Puppets with Guts, and featuring a community cast from Bradford.

We were delighted to play our part in Bradford Literature Festival, which came back with a bang in July. The festival included The Big Tasty Read, a series of special events bringing together literature and food – including a discussion on food and memory with Samantha Ellis and Bee Wilson, a culinary journey through Al-Andalus and an event spotlighting food’s importance in shaping our cultural identity.

More than 70 people from across the district came together in July to perform a powerful new dance work created by Akram Khan Company with Dance United Yorkshire. Memories of the Future brought the dancers’ personal stories and shared experiences to the stage in a raw, honest and deeply human reflection – and reminded us that everyone has something to give, something to learn and something worth sharing. Unforgettable.

Bradfordians aged 55 and over also joined Yorkshire Dance this month to become the stars of an inclusive dance show to celebrate growing older.

More than 150,000 Poles and 35,000 Ukrainians settled in the UK following the Second World War, putting down roots for communities that thrive today. Tim Smith has been photographing these communities for more than 40 years – and Tu i Tam/Tyt i Tam (‘Here and There’) brought together dozens of his evocative images with unique objects and rare archival materials for a fascinating exhibition at Loading Bay.

The Beacon, our custom-designed touring venue, planted roots in Cliffe Castle Park for another packed month of cultural goodness – kicking off, as always, with a Big Family Welcome, free to all. Highlights included a cabaret evening starring five Bradford drag acts, an archaeology festival for the under-5s and an ace party for young people hosted by Teen Scene.

Morag Myerscough was our featured artist this month for DRAW!, our nationwide drawing project supported by David Hockney. In honour of David turning 88 this month, Morag invited us to make a drawing on the theme of birthdays.

In July, our Talent Development Programme brought together leading figures from the street art world with some of the district’s established and emerging artists, to create a brand piece of new art that showcases their creativity at the Morrisons store in Idle – part of BD:Walls.

Bingley also homed a new BD: Walls art piece this month, Wayfinders, bringing vibrant life and colour to the space and sparking conversations about our relationship with nature.

Two more beneficiaries of Bradford 2025 support brought new projects to life in July:

• Lucy Barker, winner of a Bradford 2025 Artist-Led Project Award, presented Wondering Heights, a do-it-yourself artwork inspired by the Brontës and Kate Bush.
• Yorkshire Life Aquatic hosted Hollywood Meets Bollywood, a community dance fusion project at Ilkley Lido supported by the Bradford 2025 Creative Communities Fund.

Our Patch, Bradford 2025’s community creativity programme, made more cultural inroads across the district, with free events and activities galore – including…

• Budding artists in Baildon, Broomfields, Haworth and Thorpe Edge enjoyed free artist-led drawing sessions as part of our ongoing DRAW! Tour around Bradford.
• Families taking part in the Summer Reading Challenge enjoyed added creativity with Our Patch workshops in libraries in Clayton, Holme Wood, Manningham and Wyke, as well as at City Library in Centenary Square.
• The Blank Page Club offered more storytelling support at Holme in the Wood Arts Café, and Keighley Chorus returned to Airedale Shopping Centre in Keighley for their monthly public singalong.
• Bradford West Family Fun Day was a cultural celebration for the whole community, organised by the Our Patch team and the Bradford 2025 Networkers.
• The Our Patch team also hosted free creative activities at summer events across the district, including the Great Horton Community Festival, the Wyke Community Gala, the Wrose Carnival Parade and the Littlemoor Park Nature Reserve Celebration.

Wild Uplands Walk & Write, a writers’ walk led by Michael Stewart, and Make and Move, a school-holiday workshop from artist Natalie Ellingham, were just two of the creative engagement events inspired by Wild Uplands, our open-air sculpture park above Haworth.

The BD: Walls Street Art Talent Development Programme continued with new work painted at Checkpoint – and the unveiling of new wall art at the opening weekend of Darley Street Market.

Last but not least, Science Explorers Play Lab continued introducing the under-5s to science in a series of fun and free sessions.