Search for directors who can run Bradford's City of Culture events begins

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries revealed last month the district had beaten Southampton, County Durham and Wrexham to claim the coveted title.

The Bradford 2025 team is now working on plans for more than 1,000 performances and events that celebrate Bradford’s “unique heritage and character” and feature work from 365 artists.

The team has launched the recruitment process for a Creative Director and an Executive Director, who will be responsible for delivering the programme. They will each be paid between £80,000 and £100,000.

According to the job adverts, the Creative Director will recruit and manage the creative and production teams to deliver a range of complex projects, nurture and develop local talent, and provide “inspirational leadership”.

The Executive Director will take charge of the administrative teams, but also be “the public face” of Bradford 2025 and work on productions and commissioning.

Both directors will be asked to “unleash the limitless imaginations” of Bradford’s young and diverse population and use art and culture to “to change perceptions of Bradford in the UK and around the world”.

Bid Director Richard Shaw said: “Our first step as UK City of Culture 2025 is to start building the outstanding team which will ultimately showcase Bradford to the world.

“The two roles we are currently recruiting, an Executive Director and Creative Director, will work in tandem to lead a delivery team and shape the social, economic and cultural direction of the year to ensure we deliver on the promise of our winning bid.

“This is a huge opportunity for the right candidates to play leading roles in bringing to life our ambitious cultural programme in 2025 and create a game-changing year for the whole district.”

Bradford 2025 has said the coveted title could bring an extra £700m of investment to the district, create around 3,000 jobs and attract 1.1m visitors.

Bradford was one of 20 locations that submitted a bid to become the next UK City of Culture.

The 10-person panel of judges for the competition, which was led by screenwriter Sir Phil Redmond, visited the four locations which made it into the final in May and then conducted interviews with bid teams in London, during the final stage of the competition.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said the “young and vibrant” city’s winning bid “drew upon its wide-range of local cultural assets”, including the Brontë Parsonage and Saltaire Unesco World Heritage Site.

Bradford will take over from Coventry, which has held the title since 2021. Other previous winners include Derry-Londonderry in 2013 and Hull in 2017.