Culture makes a significant contribution to the prosperity of our District and is one of the fastest growing sectors of our Economy. Recent successful bids for investment in the Production Hub and the Creative People and Places fund will further strengthen cultural organisations and widen participation in the arts across the District. 

The report of the Strategic Director of Place (Document “T”) welcomes the growing strength of the sector and recommends council support for a District wide bid to become UK City of Culture 2025. 

Recommended -

(1)       Council backs the bid to become UK City of Culture 2025.  The bid will be led by a Culture Trust and supported by the Cultural Place Partnership and Cultural Voice Network.

(2)       That Council be recommended to approve Section 9 - Option 3 of this report and allocate funding up to a maximum of £1,435,000 over 3 years, as detailed in appendix 3 and that this funding be made available to the accountable bodies concerned via existing Council annual grant application protocols or in the case of contracts for services that are awarded through compliant procurement procedures.  It is noted that this investment will be used to leverage much greater external investment in the cultural sector in the District.

(Regeneration and Environment Overview & Scrutiny Committee)

(Phil Barker – 01274 432616)

Culture makes a significant contribution to the prosperity of our district and is one of the fastest growing sectors of our economy.  Recent successful bids for investment in the Production Hub and the Creative People and Places fund will further strengthen cultural organisations and widen participation in the arts across the district. 

The report of the Strategic Director of Place (Document “T”) welcomed the growing strength of the sector and recommended Council support for a district wide bid to become UK City of Culture 2025. 

The Assistant Director Sports and Leisure set out the Council’s aspirations around the bid and the elements that were in place to take the bid forward.  Also present were representatives from the cultural sector including the Director of Kala Sangam, Director of the Bradford Literature Festival, a representative from the Creative People and Places Consortium, the Interim Chair of the City of Culture and a representative from the Culture Creativity Place.

Representatives who spoke espoused the strong cultural offer in Bradford and the successful events that Bradford had and continued to host, including the Literature Festival.  The impetus going forward would be to put together a bid that was unique and one that had the potential to succeed.  Representatives from the cultural sector were confident this could be achieved if all the different elements and partners worked together on the bid.  The investment and economic benefits of running for City of Culture and the winning City were alluded, an example of which were Coventry and Hull.

A number of Councillors from the Conservative group were present at the meeting and stated that although this was a good aspiration to have as a city, allocating Council reserves to such a bid, at a time when libraries and museums had been subjected to reductions in funding, would be a huge gamble, and urged that the Executive reconsider its position.

The Leader clarified that this was one off funding and would not support revenue funding in libraries.  She added that the process of bidding would create huge opportunities for the district in terms of raising its profile as well as bringing inward investment.

Representatives from the Cultural Sector emphasised that embarking on this journey would bring significant economic and cultural benefits to the district, and this has been realised by previous bid authorities, and that Bradford should therefore not shy away from such an opportunity.

The Leader stressed that the cultural sector in the district was invigorated with what was on offer and this put us in good stead for a successful winning bid, and she urged all to get behind the bid, and it was therefore:

Resolved -

(1)       That the Council backs the bid to become UK City of Culture 2025.  The bid will be led by a Culture Trust and supported by the Cultural Place Partnership and Cultural Voice Network.

(2)       That Council be recommended to approve Section 9 - Option 3 of this report and allocate funding up to a maximum of £1,435,000 over 3 years, as detailed in appendix 3 and that this funding be made available to the accountable bodies concerned via existing Council annual grant application protocols or in the case of contracts for services that are awarded through compliant procurement procedures.  It is noted that this investment will be used to leverage much greater external investment in the cultural sector in the District.

ACTION: Strategic Director Place

(Regeneration and Environment Overview & Scrutiny Committee)

(Phil Barker – 01274 432616)