Network
capacity

We are at our most powerful, effective and sustainable when we work collaboratively. By sharing resources, we will build and diversify our sector networks. As a creative community, we will share equipment, knowledge and skills, supporting, championing and mentoring each other. We will work collectively to develop inclusion, talent, participation and audiences. We will ensure every District agenda, from health to planning, education to transport, keeps culture in mind.

 
 
 

↓ Find out more

Most of our cultural sector is made up of relatively small organisations. 40% of our sector is freelance or self-employed, higher than the national average of 33% 

 
Group photograph of members of the Cultural Voice Forum, cheering and waving at the camera. Image ©Karol Wyszynski 

Group photograph of members of the Cultural Voice Forum, cheering and waving at the camera. Image ©Karol Wyszynski 

 
 
 
 
A group of people standing and sitting around a large table enthusiastically sharing images, ideas, photos on phones and writing notes as part of a workshop about Bradford bidding to UK City of Culture 2025. Image ©Andrew Dixon

A group of people standing and sitting around a large table enthusiastically sharing images, ideas, photos on phones and writing notes as part of a workshop about Bradford bidding to UK City of Culture 2025. Image ©Andrew Dixon

 

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These micro businesses and self-employed creatives give the District’s cultural scene a real vibrancy – we are light on our feet. Ironically, this has helped many to navigate the pandemic better than mid-scale businesses who have been exposed by collapse of box-office and retail incomes. 

But, even in the best of times, most of our cultural organisations have barely the capacity to deliver their own projects. Even the District’s best-supported organisations – those in the Arts Council England’s National Portfolio – are relatively small. 

While Bradford’s creative community has given the District a famously DIY, can-do energy that is a huge asset, its lack of capacity, connection and profile turns this into a double-edged sword: 

'There is so much going on in Bradford under the radar – but it’s only good for so long being bloody brilliant underground if no one knows what you’re doing.'

 
 

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This fragmentation, combined with a lack of coordination, has led in the past to unhealthy competition for resources, over dependence on the District Council and even to Bradford competing against itself for national investments.

However, our creative communities are collegial, collaborative and enthusiastic to work together. Without taking away the vibrancy of the sector, we will build capacity through new networks, linking up our local, national and international contacts, to enable us to share resources, expertise, intelligence, equipment, spaces, opportunities, contacts, audiences and data.

 
 
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‘Culture is coming together to work on a common goal’

 
An older man looking calmly and confidently directly at the camera, paused from his work, standing in front of a partly refurbished historic vehicle in the workshops at the Keighley Bus Museum. Image ©Nathanial Chang

An older man looking calmly and confidently directly at the camera, paused from his work, standing in front of a partly refurbished historic vehicle in the workshops at the Keighley Bus Museum. Image ©Nathanial Chang

 
 
 
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The combination of diverse ingredients coupled with proximity, energy, and time, transforms that wet pile of dough into something greater than the sum of its parts.

 

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Bradford Council is changing its relationship with the sector from being a funder to being an enabler. This new approach is already working. An Investment of £1,435,000 in 2019 into sector-led bids like Bradford Producing Hub has already levered £3,560,000 of new investment into the District for culture.

The Cultural Place Partnership, which commissioned Culture Is Our Plan, was set up to oversee the growth of arts, culture and heritage activity across the District. It will coordinate Bradford’s response to national opportunities. It is chaired by Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe and membership includes leaders of the major strategic cultural initiatives in the District.

This includes representatives from the independent cultural sector nominated by the Cultural Voice Forum, a network open to everyone working in arts, culture and heritage in our District. It brings together more than 250 people to share sector knowledge, experience and opportunity.

 

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Unity will be our strength. To increase investment in the District, we will work together and not in competition. With a shared plan, the arts, culture and heritage sector will attract national investors and partners.

 

↓ What we'll do

Following its brilliant start in 2019, The Cultural Voice Forum will increase its membership and resources to enable it to play an enhanced role in communication and coordination for arts, culture and heritage. It will provide support services, data and information to the sector and will work closely with partners like the Bradford Producing Hub to maximise training and skills development opportunities. It will also help represent the District’s voice in regional and national forums.