BD:Festival brings weekend of fun and inspiration
Bradford city centre is set to come alive with world class artists and performers when BD:Festival kicks-off at this weekend.
This free summer festival brings exciting and innovative street theatre, live music and immersive cultural installations. With hip-hop hippo routines and interactive multi-sensory edible exhibitions there’ll be lots of fun, laughter and creativity at locations across the city centre on Friday 28 and Saturday 29 July.
The BD:Festival includes the world premiere of Balbir Singh’s Cricket Green; a thrilling theatrical game with live music and dance exploring cricket and climate change.
Visitors to the festival will have the chance to see BrickLive trail which is also on in the city centre this weekend. The trail which is brought to you by the Bradford BID returns to the city centre with the theme of Fantasy Kingdom. There are 15 installations all made of toy bricks dotted around the city centre for visitors to find. Look out for mystical and fantasy figures including unicorns, dragons and warriors and complete the online quest to be entered in to a prize draw to win a £100 City Centre Gift Card.
If you’re more of a night owl, then BD:Festival has teamed up with QM Records to host MOVES Festival across the two days, at Bradford’s Kala Sangam. MOVES Festival will see multi-genre performances from local artists such as Jae Depz, Musumba, KG, Mezcal and Beth Gibson.
Visitors coming to the BD:Festival will also have opportunity to make a real day or night of it. Bradford offers a vibrant café scene and night life with a wide range of great places to eat and drink and many other attractions to visit in and around the city centre.
BD:Festival is produced by Bradford Council and demonstrates the growing ambition set out in Culture is Our Plan, the district’s 10-year culture strategy, as the Bradford district works towards its year of City of Culture in 2025.
Councillor Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Healthy People and Places, said: “The BD Festival is set to be a really inspiring weekend of fun and creativity. The range of cultural and artistic activities and events on this weekend is really inspiring and there is something for everyone.
“As we approach Bradford City of Culture 2025, the BD Festival really does whet the appetite and is an opportunity for us to showcase our district as a cultural innovator and hotspot and a fantastic place to visit.”
For more information visit https://www.visitbradford.com/whats-on/bdevents
For more information about MOVES events in the evening visit https://www.kalasangam.org/box-office/moves-fest/
Preview the BD: Festival Trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8M_DZE3hN0
For the full programme, view the BD: Festival Programme and Map here: https://www.visitbradford.com/whats-on/bdevents
Travel arrangements and road closures
Visitors to the city centre festival who are planning to travel by train on Saturday 29 July are reminded that they will need to make alterative arrangements due to the planned train strike.
For the safety of those attending the festival there will be several road closures in place and some buses will be diverted.
Sunbridge Road from Godwin Street to Market Street (including Aldermanbury and Tyrrel Street) and Norfolk Gardens will be closed to vehicles from 10am until 8pm on Saturday 29 July. All buses using this route will be diverted to the Interchange along Godwin Street.
The Ivegate area and Kirkgate pedestrianised areas, will have restricted vehicle access on Friday 28 and Saturday 29 July until 7pm.
More information about road closures can be found on the one network website https://one.network/uk/bradford
Information about changes to bus routes can be found on the West Yorkshire Metro website https://www.wymetro.com/plan-a-journey/travel-news/scheduled-disruptions/