Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture: 'Real energy' - How Bradford is set to deliver in its year of opportunity

Across Yorkshire temperatures are again plummeting - in Bradford tonight the mercury is set to fall to a chilly minus 3C.

But there will be thousands of people getting ready to wrap up and head out for tonight’s spectacular curtain raiser, which will kick off more than 1,000 performances scheduled for Bradford’s year in the spotlight as City of Culture 2025.

Creative director Shanaz Gulzar says she can feel the sense of anticipation walking through the city, following its recent £45m makeover.

“(The work in the city centre) has given a real energy, a feeling something really exciting is going to happen.

“It’s really interesting; I’ve seen the transformation over the last year or so. And bit by bit you’ve seen it pedestrianised.

“Those streets you’d have to close off to do an event, you just calmly walk down the centre. It’s become more human, more people-centred.”

Hull, which held the title in 2017, started its year-long celebration on New Year’s Eve with a fireworks display and video projections.

But although amazing to look at, In With A Bang fizzled out, audience-wise, as the week progressed. Shanaz said the advice they’d had from Hull was “think about doing it later in January”.

She said: “Having something beyond New Year’s Eve (to look forward to) as we head into another two months of darkness - it’s important to have a bit of joy.”

More tickets have been released this week for Rise - a performance by magician Steven Frayne - better known by his stage name Dynamo.

As a youngster Frayne grew up on the Delph Hill estate in Bradford and was taught magic by his grandfather as a way to escape bullies.

He told The Guardian: “I was just this kid on the council estate, in a one-bedroom bedsit with a dad in jail and a mum who was struggling to make ends meet to keep the lights on.

“Somehow she managed to find a way for us to survive and in all of that I managed to find a way to use my imagination, which is all I had.”

After a year of disruption, most of the fencing which turned Bradford city centre into a maze of fenced-off sections has come down and this weekend’s opening events will be a chance for people to come and see the result of all those roadworks.

Bradford hasn’t seen investment like it for years - and with it, inevitably, there have been snags.

Contractors are still finishing off parts of the road scheme and while the National Science and Media Museum reopened on Wednesday, its new sound and vision galleries won’t be ready till the summer.

Meanwhile more than £50m has been pumped into transforming a formerly derelict Odeon cinema into Bradford Live, a 3,800-seat live music venue, housed in the Art Deco building.

In September, operator NEC Group quit. Neither a new operator nor opening date has yet been announced by cash-strapped Bradford Council, which has described itself as facing “severe financial challenges, among the most significant in local government nationally”.

It’s led to some frustration, but its supporters say the wait for the historic landmark to reopen will be worth it in the end.

In a statement executive member Alex Ross-Shaw said: “We are progressing at pace to identify a new operator and can assure everyone that there is strong interest in the venue, and we are confident it will play a strong role in our year as UK City of Culture.”

This year 15.5m people are expected to pay a visit, bringing an extra spending of £136.9m into the local economy over the year.

Highlights include the Turner Prize being hosted at Cartwright Hall, a nationwide drawing project backed by artist David Hockney and a project in which a new generation of writers reinterpret the work of the Brontës.

People will board a steam train at Keighley Station - the subject of a £10m upgrade - to see an award-winning theatrical production of The Railway Children.

City of Culture aims to deliver thousands of jobs in a city where 34 per cent of the population is under 25.

The opening of the northern version of London’s renowned Brit School in Bradford in 2026 should play a major part in achieving that ambition.

The new Brit School North will be free to attend for 500 pupils aged 16 to 19 and will offer courses in dance, music and theatre.

Meanwhile Bradford 2025 is also sowing the seeds with a youth panel with 17 young people, nine apprentices and 10 young creatives.

“This is about a long term impact,” says Shanaz. “It won’t happen overnight.”