When?
6 and 13 November 2025
with a follow-up session in Spring 2026
Where?
Bradford district
Venue to be announced
Register by
Sunday 12 October 2025 at 11PM
Our Empowered artists are invited to join us in the exciting next phase of our work - Empowered Futures
Our Empowered programme is looking to the future, with a new series centred on action-based research to develop policy innovation for marginalised artists locally and nationally.
We are delighted to be working with researcher Dawn Cameron to research and develop methods, policies and structures that deliver impactful support to artistic leaders who experience marginalisation, not just in Bradford, but across the national arts and culture sector. By participating in this next stage, you will build on your professional skills and enhance your leadership confidence. We will provide professional development grants and invite you to co-create an event that will showcase your work as an innovative changemaking leader in Bradford’s arts ecology.
The wellbeing and connectivity of the involved artists will continue to be a cornerstone of this programme, and BPH remains committed to listening to and supporting artists through both Empowered Futures and our ongoing needs-led work.
We hope that this work will empower you in your creative endeavours, help you unpick or bridge a gap in your artistic leadership work, and reconnect and reconsolidate your networks. Empowered Futures is funded by the Communities Innovating Yorkshire Fund – a commissioning programme delivered by the Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership (YPIP). We therefore hope that you will share our confidence that by sharing your lived experience through this programme, you really can help shape policy innovation that supports ongoing change.
What you get:
Through participation in Empowered Futures, you will receive:
- A £500 stipend to participate in the scheduled sessions
- A £500 development grant
- The opportunity to co-create an event that will not just showcase you as a leader, but your work in innovating policy that will support marginalised artists in Bradford, and in the national arts and culture sector
Your commitment:
Your contribution to Empowered Futures will look like:
- Attending the Empowered Futures sessions on:
- Thursday 6 November 2025
- Thursday 13 November 2025
- A follow-up session in Spring 2026
- Up to 2 additional days supporting the research and development of the Empowered Futures work
- Participation in or attendance at the Empowered Futures event in Spring 2026
- Undertake funded professional development. This could look like:
- Mentoring or coaching
- Training
- Membership to a professional body or organisation
- Attendance at conferences and other learning and networking events
- A trip to meet other professionals or organisations like you to learn more about how they operate, or learn more about their journey to where they are now
- Any other development activity that supports either your professional skills development or confidence and understanding of leadership, and what leadership might look like for you
- Support the evaluation of Empowered Futures, which will be co-created between our researcher, Dawn Cameron, alongside Bradford Producing Hub and the Empowered Futures participants.
Want to find out more?
To find out more about Empowered Futures before you register your interest, join us for our online info session on Thursday 2 October 2025.
Register for Empowered Futures
If you’re ready to register for your place on Empowered Futures, please complete our registration form by Sunday 12 October 2025, at 11 PM.
If you need support with your application, or need to apply a different way, such as by video or audio, please email us at hello@bdproducinghub.co.uk
Not taking part?
If you’re choosing not to participate in Empowered Futures, we’re keen to hear your thoughts as to why so that we can work to make our programmes more accessible in the future. Please lend us a minute of your time and complete our quick non-participant survey.
FAQs
What times are the sessions?
The sessions will run from 9.30 AM until 5 PM with a session start time of 10 AM.
We expect lunch to be from 1 – 2 PM. This will be provided by Bradford Producing Hub and will be a vegetarian meal with vegan options. Please let us know when registering if you have any dietary requirements, and we will ensure we cater to these on the day.
What will the sessions cover?
Session 1: Thursday 6 November 2025
During this session, we expect to explore:
- Reflection of the Empowered programme so far
- What works and doesn’t work in policy
- Who’s making good things happen
- Who or what needs to be challenged
- How activism and advocacy are balanced
Session 2: Thursday 13 November 2025
This session will be part ‘Think Tank’ and part inspiration session with:
- Artists who’ve innovated policy and created equitable industry change
- Leaders who are strong and vocal in their support for marginalised people and actively resist systemic oppressions
Session 3: Spring 2026
This session is to be announced and will be shaped by you and the outcomes of the first two sessions.
Is this really for me?
If you’re worried that you ‘don’t know much about policy innovation’ or some of the themes listed above, please try not to! The idea of these sessions is that we’re bringing together intersectional, marginalised groups of artists to form a grassroots approach to influencing inclusive policies that work for you. All you need is a desire to progress your professional skills and leadership confidence, plus a strong will to make a change for artists like you.
How many places are available?
We have a total of 20 places available on this programme.
How will you select participants?
If more than 20 people register, we will make a selection based on the information provided on the registration form. We will select participants who represent an intersectional mix of participants from our previous Empowered programmes and demonstrate a clear understanding of Empowered Futures, and how participation might benefit their professional development.
Are there any access funds available?
We will do what we can to support participation in our Empowered Futures programme. In addition to the £100 per day (£500 total) participation stipend, we have an access fund available.
Participants can receive additional access support for things like:
- Travel costs
- Caring costs, including childcare
- Interpretation costs, including language support and BSL
- Support staff, such as an access support worker
- Other practical support to enable you to attend and participate in this programme
Please let us know what you might need when registering your interest in the Empowered Futures programme. Your access requirements will not impact your chances of being selected for the programme.
About our funders
Empowered Futures, delivered by Bradford Producing Hub is funded by the Communities Innovating Yorkshire Fund – a commissioning programme delivered by the Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership (YPIP). YPIP is a regional project focused on academic, policy and community collaborative research on place-based inclusive growth and sustainable living for informed decision-making.
For more information about the Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership, head to ypip.org.uk
