Ready or not, Bradford, here it comes – your big moment has almost arrived as the West Yorkshire metropolis prepares to shine under the spotlight as UK City of Culture 2025. The digging up of roads and architectural improvements over the past months may have been driving residents around the bend, but hand on the new BD logo heart, you have to admit, this city scrubs up well.

Visitors can’t fail to be impressed by the new-look centre with its Mirror Pool fountains and greener, pedestrian-friendly walkways, while keynote buildings lit up at night are nothing short of extraordinary. This traditional Yorkshire textile community once overshadowed by the smog of mills may not always have received the best Press, but now is this city’s chance to grab opportunity with both hands and create a positive, brighter future.

Bradford is not only one of the youngest cities in the UK, with over a quarter of the population under the age of 20, but also one of the most diverse. Residents of all ages will be involved in numerous performances and activities, proudly telling stories about their city and district. Many elements of the programme will be free and will celebrate not just indigenous artists, writers, musicians, performers and local cultural organisations, but national and international partners, too.

Those with a Bradford District postcode which covers 141 square miles from the city itself to the surrounding Dales, arty Saltaire and thriving market towns like Ilkley and Skipton, will be rooting for the exciting cultural programme that lies ahead throughout 2025. It’s hoped the multi-million pound projects and changing street scenes will breathe new life into the city’s long and colourful, although arguably more recently neglected, history.

For anyone who cynically thinks this may be a Mission Impossible, a Magician Impossible has been brought in to save the day. For launching a vibrant and exciting programme of events for the year ahead will be none other than the district’s very own daredevil illusionist Steven Frayne (formerly known as Dynamo). You just pray that he can cast a spell over the weather as RISE will be an outdoor spectacle (yes, even though it’s mid-January oop north)!

Directed by Kirsty Housley and taking place in City Park and Centenary Square on 10 & 11 Jan with what is hoped will be a festival atmosphere as DJs, food trucks and entertainers build up the buzz ahead of the show, let’s hope the audience doesn’t all rise if it gets too chilly. Mind you, aerial performers, acrobats and magic trickery should have everyone frozen to the spot, celebrating the local people and communities that help to make Bradford extraordinary. Tickets costing £2 are now on sale, or free for under-16s, over-60s and Youth Pass members aged 16-25.

The news that Bradford’s much-loved National Science and Media Museum is reopening on 8 Jan is also causing a frisson of excitement as the iconic building has received what is promised as a once-in-a-generation transformation. The re-launch will be celebrated on 11 Jan with A Grand Day Out in a special partnership with Aardman Animations which includes screenings of Wallace & Gromit, model-making workshops and more. The museum’s IMAX theatre has just reopened too with larger-than-life Mufasa: The Lion King as the chosen debut film for Yorkshire’s biggest independent cinema.

Safari so good (sorry, couldn’t resist), but there is no show without Punch and a new David Hockney: Pieced Together exhibition from 15 Jan –18 May 2025 will showcase the Bradford-born, now world-renowned, artist’s pioneering use of film and photography as well as his early ‘joiner’ photocollages, two of which are part of the museum’s collection. He is also the inspiration and support behind a nationwide drawing project called – drum roll, please – DRAW! Launched in January, members of the public are invited to take part, so pencils at the ready for sketches more creative than the title.

Want us to paint a picture of what else is happening? Then how about the internationally acclaimed Akram Khan Company performing in Bradford for the very first time at the legendary Alhambra Theatre on 24 & 25 Jan with Jungle Book reimagined. Based on the book by Rudyard Kipling, Khan and his team have reimagined the journey of Mowgli through the eyes of a refugee caught in a world devastated by the impact of climate change. As if Mowgli didn’t have enough challenges in the first place, though please let there still be a happy ending.

Highlighting Bradford’s leading role as the world’s first-ever UNESCO City of Film, cinema continues to be celebrated through the programme in Northern Soul. This season of films from working-class northern women is curated by award-winning West Yorkshire born artist and film-maker Clio Barnard (30 Jan – 9 Feb 2025). In addition, Asian Dub Foundation make a welcome return to reprise one of their most acclaimed projects, the powerful soundtrack to cult classic French thriller La Haine, performed live to a screening of the film (15 Jan).

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

This is all just for starters and we could go on, but perhaps these initial highlights will whet your appetite for what’s to come in the Curry turned Cultural Capital. All eyes are on Bradford, eager to see how an ambitious programme designed to reflect the district’s youthfulness, diversity and heritage, will ignite a creative spark to illuminate an unforgettable 12 months and beyond. No pressure. Here’s to 2025 and what it promises for the future.

More at Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture