Meet the man leading Bradford's bid to be UK City of Culture in 2025

Richard Shaw, who took up the post of director in November last year, is surely the right person for the job. A hugely experienced arts and media professional, he has previously held senior positions at several of the UK’s leading cultural organisations including the National Theatre, the British Film Institute and English National Ballet. And after moving back to his home county, Leeds-born Shaw hit the ground running.

“I spent a couple of months burning a lot of shoe leather,” he says. “I met as many people as I could both in the city and the wider district. I had five or six appointments a day and I guess I must have met around 400 people, listening to their ambitions for the bid. Then lockdown happened but not before we had set up a much wider consultation programme with the diverse groups and communities in Bradford.”

Shaw was impressed by Bradford Council’s rapid response to the Covid-19 crisis in relation to arts and culture. In just three weeks they made money available to 55 projects across the district with grants of up to £1,000. “It was such a great example of the city’s authentic generosity of spirit and it made me think if that’s what Bradford can do in lockdown, imagine what it can do afterwards.”

Like everyone involved in the arts at the moment, Shaw has concerns about what the cultural landscape might look like once we emerge from lockdown.

“I think there will be parts of the industry that will thrive, others that will take a very long time to come back from it, some of them might not,” he says. Overall, however, he feels positive about the future. “I have enormous optimism that the arts and culture sector is creative enough and far-sighted enough to respond to the challenges that are coming.”

There is no doubt that being named UK City of Culture has huge benefits. In our region we already have a shining example of that. Hull (where Shaw went to University) held the title in 2017 and has since seen a tremendous boost both economically and in the way it is perceived externally. The other areas and cities that Bradford is competing with for the 2025 award are Southampton, Gloucester, Medway, Lancashire and the Tees Valley.

The winner will be announced in December 2021 and there are plenty of reasons why Bradford is in a strong position.

“Part of the bid is to communicate the distinctive quality of a city. Bradford has an incredibly rich cultural heritage and such an independent and collaborative spirit which is very empowering. It is ambitious in its thinking, hungry for success,” says Shaw. “It also has a radical edge with social justice and community power at the forefront.”

There are few places more deserving – this could be Bradford’s time to shine.

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