Bradford named UK City of Culture 2025

Bradford named UK City of Culture 2025

Bradford has been crowned UK City of Culture 2025, taking on the mantle from Coventry UK City of Culture 2021.

The decision was based on independent advice from a panel of experts led by TV writer-producer Sir Phil Redmond. The experts visited each of the four shortlisted places, which also included County Durham, Southampton and Wrexham County Borough.

Bradford will now receive £275,000 in initial seed funding as it develops its plans for 2025. For the first time in the history of the UK City of Culture competition, each of the runners up will also receive a grant of £125,000 to support the bidding team in taking forward some of the best elements of their bids.

Sir Phil Redmond, Chair of the Independent Advisory Panel, said:

"The selection is never about whether one bid is better than another, it is more that one bid has the potential to make a bigger and deliverable impact. For 2021 we asked Coventry to raise the bar previously set by Derry-Londonderry 2013 and then raised by Hull 2017. Challenged by the pandemic, Coventry have certainly done that and I am looking forward to seeing how far the cultural bar can be raised in BD25."

Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 engaged an audience of over one million through more than 700 ticketed, unticketed and online events.

Martin Sutherland, Chief Executive, Coventry City of Culture Trust said:

"Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 has shown that the title has the power to engage people from across the whole community, including by training 1,515 City Hosts who contributed almost 36,000 volunteering hours. The title also helped attract £172 million in inward investment."

"Congratulations to Bradford on winning the UK City of Culture title for 2025. Everyone in Coventry wishes you the best of luck for your own fantastic and impactful year. This will be a truly remarkable time for your city and we look forward to supporting you as you prepare to celebrate all that is special about Bradford in 2025."

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