Introduction to the Bradford Data Review

Bradford is at a transformational moment, with culture set to play a central role in its regeneration and revitalisation.

The recent decision to make Bradford the UK City of Culture in 2025 (BD2025) will accelerate this process. For Bradford, being City of Culture will provide a wealth of opportunities including:

• Improved cultural participation.
• Increased artistic and cultural production and dissemination.
• A showcase for Bradford’s cultural offer regionally, nationally and internationally.
• The chance to raise the profile of the city and district.

This transformational moment will take place in a unique city. 

Bradford is:

• One of the youngest places in Europe, with more than 30% of the population under the age of 20.¹
• One of the most ethnically diverse places in the UK – with the second largest proportion of people of Pakistani ethnic origin in England.²
• The fifth largest metropolitan district in England by population with over half a million residents.³
• A place with intense pockets of deprivation with low cultural and physical engagement and participation.
• A place where arts and culture play a key role in developing participation and also in tackling deep seated social problems within the district’s communities.
• A place of international architectural significance, with including two UNESCO listings and twice as many listed buildings per head as comparable cities.

Fortunately, there is an increasing amount of high-quality research and data about Bradford and the wider district. Much of this is directly relevant to cultural organisations, cultural producers and artists. It provides an invaluable resource for understanding the district – its population, social and economic deprivation, cultural participation and creative economy.

However, this data is disparate, disconnected and stored in different places, making it hard to find. The purpose of this Data Review is to remedy this and open up access.

We hope you find this Review useful and that it proves to be an effective tool in making the case for arts and cultural funding – and for fundamental social and cultural change in Bradford.

And please do feedback your thoughts and comments to
hello@bdproducinghub.co.uk so we can improve the next edition.

Dr David Lee
Summer 2023

Next: How to use this data