City’s bid for UK City of Culture gathers pace with appointment of director
Bradford’s bid for UK City of Culture status has taken a major step forward with the appointment of full-time bid director, Richard Shaw.
He is an experienced arts and media professional with a track record in public engagement, broadcasting, management and marketing.
Shaw has held prominent positions at several of the UK’s leading arts, cultural and media organisations including the British Film Institute, the National Theatre, English National Ballet and Lion Television.
The new role sees him return to his roots, having been born in Yorkshire and attending the University of Hull before starting his first full-time job at Hull New Theatre.
Over the last 30 years, he has built a wealth of expertise in a career which spans the performing arts, theatre, dance, film and broadcasting.
In January 2019, following a multi-million pound refurbishment programme at BFI Southbank, he left his most recent full-time role to fulfil a publishing contract and work freelance in independent television production.
Mary Dowson, interim chair of the Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture bid, said: “Richard brings a wealth of national experience to help Bradford on its journey and we are delighted to welcome him to Team Bradford.
“With the enthusiastic support of our steering group and the backing of strategic partners including Bradford Council, the University of Bradford and a wide range of regional arts and community organisations, we will continue to build on our early momentum.
“We plan to recruit further local expertise and begin a programme of community engagement in early 2020 to get the whole district working together on the bid.”
Shaw said: “The bid for the UK City of Culture title is a huge opportunity for Bradford to shout proudly about its extraordinary cultural heritage and to celebrate the new generation of artists, musicians, writers, performers, producers, entrepreneurs and businesses that bring this great city to life today.
“I’m enormously excited to be coming back to live in Yorkshire and to help work on a bold, distinctive and genuinely inclusive bid.
“We need to capture as many voices as we have across the district to find themes and stories about Bradford, its people and its place in the UK, to make a compelling case to the judges. And as Europe’s youngest city, Bradford’s young voices will be instrumental in helping to shape our vision.”
Shaw will head the Bradford Culture Trust bid executive team, working with the steering group which includes Alex Croft, creative director of Bradford intercultural arts hub, Kala Sangam; Anne McNeill, director of Impressions Gallery; Kamran Rashid, director of 30 Chapel Street, an upcoming hub for arts, enterprise and tech in the heart of the city’s historic Little Germany district, and artist Nabeelah Hafeez.
He will also work closely with the recently formed Cultural Place Partnership which includes Bradford-based live arts company, The Brick Box; University of Bradford; Bradford College, further representatives of the cultural sector and national funders.
Rashid, steering group member, said: “Richard’s appointment is an important step as Bradford takes forward its ambition to win the City of Culture title for 2025.
“The city has so many of the ingredients to make a great socially inclusive City of Culture. It was fantastic to see Bradford University named the UK’s University of the Year for Social Inclusion earlier this year, and we want to build on this reputation. Richard will strengthen our national links and help us build the case that Bradford deserves this bid.”
Shaw’s appointment comes hot on the heels of Bradford being named “the most-improved city in Britain” for jobs growth, skill levels and quality of life in The Good Growth for Cities 2019 index, published by professional services giant PwC.
The city will be competing against a number of locations that already have announced their intentions to bid for the UK City of Culture title, including Lancashire, Medway, Southampton and Tees Valley.
City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council has pledged £400,000 of support towards the bid.
Shaw added: “The economic and social benefits of winning are enormous; generating new investment, bringing new jobs, resources and more visitors to the region and offering new skills and opportunities for people who live, work and study here.
“Just last week, Hull revealed that £676m worth of new public and private investment has been injected into the city between 2013 and 2019 – an incredible legacy from its UK City of Culture year. There’s no reason why Bradford can’t reap the same benefits, if not more.”
The Bradford Culture Trust is making plans for a district-wide roadshow where organisations and members of the public can come along and find out more about how to get involved. Taking place in spring/summer 2020, further details will be announced in the new year. Programme development for the bid will start once the vision and themes are in place later in 2020. The final bid has to be submitted in 2021 and the winning city will be announced in December 2021.
