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Appendix 2 – Lists of cultural assets in Bradford

Lists of cultural assets in Bradford

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Table 5: Recent ACE funding rounds awards for Bradford District between 2023-2026

Grant Type / Round Organisation Value Genre Constituency
CRF 1 Grants Artworks Creative Communities £50,707 Combined arts Bradford West
CRF 1 Grants BD Band £76,080 Music Bradford South
CRF 1 Grants Bradford Museums & Galleries £208,536 Museums Bradford West
CRF 1 Grants Bradford Theatres £894,423 Theatre Bradford West
CRF 1 Grants Culture Squared CIC £139,707 Literature Bradford West
CRF 1 Grants Fuse Art Space CIC £66,250 Combined arts Bradford West
CRF 1 Grants Hive Bradford £52,000 Visual arts Shipley
CRF 1 Grants Ilkley Playhouse £60,454 Theatre Keighley
CRF 1 Grants Jam on Top £60,147 Music Keighley
CRF 1 Grants Kala Sangam £123,000 Combined arts Bradford East
CRF 1 Grants Mind the Gap £150,000 Theatre Bradford West
CRF 1 Grants Nightrain Entertainment Ltd £143,255 Music Bradford West
CRF 1 Grants Stage 84 Performing Arts Ltd £50,000 Theatre Bradford East
CRF 1 Grants The Brick Box £70,003 Combined arts Bradford West
CRF 1 Grants The Bronte Society £119,200 Museums Keighley
CRF 1 Grants The Stage Management Company (UK) Ltd £50,000 Not discipline specific Bradford East
CRF 1 Grants Thornton and Allerton Community Association £52,592 Visual arts Bradford West
CRF 1 Grants Thought Bubble Festival £51,000 Visual arts Keighley
CRF 1 Grants UK Tech-Fest £45,529 Music Shipley
CRF 1 Capital Kickstart None
CRF 1 Emergency Grassroots None
CRF 2 Grants 509ArtsLtd £45,000 Theatre Shipley
CRF 2 Grants Actors Touring Company £58,974 Theatre Shipley
CRF 2 Grants Bingley Little Theatre £76,045 Theatre Shipley
CRF 2 Grants BD Band £38,040 Music Bradford South
CRF 2 Grants Bradford Theatres £445,000 Theatre Bradford West
CRF 2 Grants Culture Squared CIC £552,246 Literature Bradford West
CRF 2 Grants Fuse Art Space CIC £33,125 Combined arts Bradford West
CRF 2 Grants Ilkley Literature Festival Ltd £27,000 Literature Keighley
CRF 2 Grants Kala Sangam £61,500 Combined arts Bradford East
CRF 2 Grants Mind the Gap £33,915 Theatre Bradford West
CRF 2 Grants Pro Audio Systems Limited £263,697 Not discipline specific Bradford West
CRF 2 Grants The Beat-Herder LTD £510,573 Music Keighley
CRF 2 Grants The Brick Box £35,000 Combined arts Bradford West
CRF 3 Continuity Support 509ArtsLtd £41,000 Theatre Shipley
CRF 3 Continuity Support Culture Squared CIC £732,559 Literature Bradford West
CRF 3 Continuity Support Fuse Art Space CIC £39,735 Combined arts Bradford West
CRF 3 Continuity Support Ilkley Literature Festival Ltd £27,000 Literature Keighley
CRF 3 Continuity Support Nightrain Entertainment Ltd £25,247 Music Bradford West
CRF 3 Continuity Support Stage 84 Performing Arts Ltd £25,000 Theatre Bradford East
CRF 3 ERS Round 1 None
CRF 3 ERS Round 2 None

BOP Consulting cultural assets datasets (2020)

 

In 2021, BOP Consulting undertook a comprehensive mapping of Bradford’s cultural economy. This research mapped cultural provision and infrastructure in the district and compared it to other comparator cities with similar populations – Sheffield and Newcastle & Gateshead.  While this data is now somewhat out of date, it remains very useful for identifying deeply entrenched patterns of investment and provision in the Bradford District. Headlines from this research show a relatively low level of public investment in culture compared to national averages and shows that NPO grants are below half of comparator cities. However, the research shows that local authority spending has maintained despite continued austerity. 

This research identified Bradford’s distinctive creative sector profile, and some unique cultural assets. But it also points out that cultural organisations tend to be smaller and have less production capacity than those in comparator cities such as Sheffield and Newcastle. 

In terms of the theatre scene in Bradford, BOP identified that the district has a similar number of venues compared to other cities of its size. However, the number of seats in these venues is significantly lower. The professional production capacity in Bradford’s theatres is limited, and there is a higher concentration of community and amateur activity compared to other similar cities.

Table 6: Numbers of theatres and seats for Bradford and other cities
City No. theatres No. of seats Seats per 1,000
Bradford 10 3,550 60
Sheffield 10 4,043 69
Newcastle & Gateshead 10 4,724 94

 

Bradford  has fewer cinema screens and slightly fewer music venues than comparable cities. Less of Bradford’s cultural infrastructure is in specific clusters, and there are no distinct areas of cultural focus in planning policy. These characteristics are likely to limit the economic contribution made by the sector.

With regards to the visual arts, Bradford has a similar number of studio spaces to Newcastle and Gateshead, though significantly fewer than Sheffield; however, these are often found in small individual units and there are no large-scale, multi-site operators present. There are also significantly fewer art galleries per person.

 

Table 7: Visual arts studios and galleries
City No. of studio spaces No. of studio spaces per 1,000 population No. of
art galleries
No. of art  galleries per 1,000 population
Bradford 10 0.19 15 0.28
Sheffield 19 0.32 28 0.48
Newcastle & Gateshead 8 0.16 19 0.38

Source: BOP Consulting, 2020

 

The capacity for professional theatre production in Bradford is limited, with only two producing theatres (Mind the Gap and Common Wealth). However, although work can be extremely high quality, these theatres are not as well established as in other comparable cities such as Sheffield and Newcastle, where larger production clusters bring in more income to the theatre sector and local economy. For instance, Sheffield Theatres produces around 13 new productions each year, with a mix of artistic, sector development and commercial goals. This includes co-productions with smaller theatres in Sheffield and other UK theatres, as well as commercial partnerships with receiving theatres that increase income. In 2018/19, Sheffield Theatres earned around £2.3 million from production income. In Newcastle, Northern Stage Theatrical Productions at the Playhouse has a procurement spend of around £1.1 million.

 

Table 8: Cultural assets in Bradford District
Name Type
Cinemas • Cineworld Bradford

• Cubby Broccoli Cinema (at NSMM)

• Haworth Cinema

• IMAX Cinema (at NSMM), Bradford

• Pictureville Cinema (at NSMM), Bradford

• Picture House Keighley

• Ilkley Cinema

Theatres • Alhambra Theatre

• Bingley Little Theatre

• Bradford Playhouse

• Kala Sangam

• Ilkley Playhouse

• East Riddlesen Hall

• Idle and Thackley Little Theatre

• Mind the Gap

• Keighley Playhouse

• Theatre in the Mill

• The Delius Arts & Cultural Centre

• St George’s Concert Hall

• Kings Hall and Winter Gardens, Ilkley

Accredited museums • Bolling Hall Museum

• Bradford Industrial Museum

• Bronte Parsonage Museum

• Cliffe Castle

• Museum of Rail Travel

Visual art studios • Cornmill Art Space

• Dockfield Road Creative Arts Hub

Art Galleries • Cartwright Hall Art Gallery

• East Riddlesen Hall

• Impressions Gallery

• Kala Sangam

• Salts Mill (Hockney1853 Gallery)

• The Bingley Gallery

• South Square Centre

• Tinker Gallery, Ilkley

• The Studio, Bradford

Music venues • 1 in 12 Club

• BD Mills (multi use space within Shed Mill)

• Fuse Art Space

• Hawksbys

• Nightrain

• South Square Centre

• Studio 5 Live

• The Live Room

• The Railway Social Club

• The Light

 

Heritage assets

Bradford has a strong heritage sector, with a comparable number of museums per head to other city districts and two UNESCO listings. According to BOP’s research in 2020, it also has twice as many listed buildings per head as comparable cities.


Table 9: Museum and Heritage indicators
Museum and
heritage indicators
Bradford Sheffield Newcastle & Gateshead
No. of museums 5 10 7
No. of museums per 10,000 0.19 0.12 0.16
UNESCO listings 2 0 0.14
No. of listed buildings 2,293 1,176 1,018
No. of listed buildings per 1,000 population 4.25 2.01 2.02

Read more Resources

Needs Analysis

Joint Cultural Needs Assessment

In March 2020 BPH commissioned Anna Franks Consultancy to conduct a Joint Cultural Needs Assessment of the Bradford district.
Evaluation

Year 3 Evaluation Report

“There is a magic about Bradford you rarely find in other places and dreams have room to flourish here.” Creativity Council member
Needs Analysis

Then and Now: A reflection on Bradford’s Joint Cultural Needs Assessment

An update of reflections and considerations on the original JCNA commissioned in March 2020.

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