James Steward, our Museums ＆ Galleries Manager, agreed to write our latest blog – looking back at 2024 and forward to 2025!
He writes:
We have just finished a busy year for Bradford District Museums & Galleries Service and for many staff the attention is unsurprisingly focused on Bradford’s unprecedented year as the designated City of Culture 2025.
Before I look ahead to the exhibition programme this year, I would like to briefly reflect on the programme last year and just some of the significant achievements made by the Museums’ team during 2024. 2024 was our second year as an Arts Council England supported National Portfolio Organisation. This level of investment brings public accountability along with the commitment to a forward plan for our museum service that meets Bradford Metropolitan District Council’s Plan priorities and embeds Arts Council’s Investment principles to encourage transformation, culture change and sustainability.
We are all aware that local government has been hit hard following a decade of austerity. Along with a number of other local authorities, Bradford requested Exceptional Financial Support from Government and has stopped all non-essential spending, frozen non-essential recruitment and is working on a multi-year plan to get the council back to a sustainable budget level.
Despite this our service needs to remain confident, passionate and bold about the positive impact we’re making through our programming which is increasingly involving the active participation of a broad representation of the communities of Bradford district. Despite the environment of fiscal uncertainty, we have shown resilience and progress in our willingness to innovate and evidence inclusivity and relevance through a public programme we have delivered to over 150,000 visitors (with over 98% of visitors surveyed rating our service as either good or very good).
During the year we have met the challenge of raising our income with the introduction of a Pay As You Feel donation scheme.
We have rebranded the service which has helped to boost engagement on our social media channels and on our re-launched website all of which supports the ambition to evidence greater connection with our audiences.
We have held several popular exhibitions including Plants of the Qur’an, first displayed at the Royal Botanical Gardens and the culmination of a research project lasting several years, undertaken by Kew scientist, Dr Shahina Ghazanfar, in collaboration with renowned scientific artist, Sue Wickison.
Our City of Culture ‘runway’ exhibition Where It Began showed Osman Yousefzada’s work, inviting visitors to consider themes of class, immigration and colonialism through his personal reflections on identity and home.
Also opening in May was Dreams and Songs to Sing, an exhibition of stunning photography by Bradford-based photographer Cath Muldowney created in partnership with members of Bradford’s Gypsy and Traveller communities across Bradford district and was created working in partnership with members organisation Leeds GATE (Gypsy and Traveller Exchange).
Photographs included images of iconic fairs and drives such as Lee Gap, as well as at people’s homes and events and was the first time these communities have been part of an inclusive photography display in the region.
At Cliffe Castle we had a Japanese exhibition ‘The Art of the Samurai’ featuring costumes and armour.
Then followed by the Within Nature: East & West exhibition featuring three artists, two from South Korea and one from England who met at Camberwell School of Art in 1990 and became friends who promised each other that one day they would hold an exhibition together. The exhibition of paintings and works on paper, brought together images from the two cultures all share on the theme of the natural world.
At Bradford Industrial Museum we worked with local Scout groups for an exhibition that featured the stories and photographs of some of the Scouts in the district and information about Scout’s famous ambassadors.
We also worked with our partners at Commonwealth to develop a new permanent Family Learning space at BIM called Fast Fast Slow, and a temporary exhibition to celebrate the Bradford Society of Architects and Surveyors Society’s 150-year anniversary that tells the story of the people behind the planning, designing and building of Bradford from 1874 to the present day.
Children and young people from the district have encountered our incredible collections that bring learning to life and taken part in inclusive family learning programmes and early years activities.
On 31st May 2022 when Bradford was chosen to be the City of Culture in hotly contested competition, revealed live on BBC One’s The One Show I had only been in Bradford for a few days prior to starting my new role at Bradford Museums and I could not have imagined a more welcoming and exciting prospect. The announcement sparked jubilant and unforgettable scenes around me with those that had worked hard to deliver a cultural plan that characterised the City’s youth, ambition and potential.
Bradford was chosen for its rich cultural diversity, historical significance and its growing reputation as a creative hub for the region. This landmark year is set to deliver more than 1,000 new performances and events, including 365 artist commissions, a series of major arts festivals, and exciting national and international collaborations. Its themes will be rooted in the unique heritage and character of Bradford, from industrial heritage to its remote rural beauty. Bradford Museums & Galleries is set to play a key part in this district wide, culture led regeneration, and we anticipate bringing significant audiences to our venues.
The City of Culture programme kicks off on 10th January with RISE, an open-air spectacular created by Kirsty Housley, the award-winning theatre director, in collaboration with Steven Frayne, the brilliant Bradford-born magician formerly known as Dynamo.
The following week we commence our confirmed programme at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery with ‘Fighting to be Heard’ an exhibition in partnership with The British Library where boxing and calligraphy connect. The exhibition explores connections between the two disciplines through the eyes of a group of British South Asian Muslim men living in Bradford today and will feature rare items from the Arabic and Urdu collections of the British Library.
Two weeks later we open ‘I Am Me’ an exhibition featuring twenty-two artworks from the Government Art Collection selected by 125 young people aged between 4 – 25 from Bradford district that will celebrate the Government Art Collection’s 125th anniversary.
This ground-breaking exhibition has been supported by Cartwright Hall’s Healthy Mind Collective, a group of young people working across the Bradford district and Craven to support children, communities and schools with their mental health and wellbeing.
The programme continues throughout the year with an host of national partner exhibitions across our venues including The National Portrait Gallery, The British Museum and Tate.
