A £3 MILLION funding pot has been created to boost cultural venues in the district in the run-up to Bradford City of Culture 2025.

One year on from the announcement that Bradford had won its bid to be host city in 2025, the team formed to deliver the celebration has announced a series of projects to boost the district’s cultural offer.

The £3m grant pot will support local organisations to fund works to buildings in the district, allowing them to be used as cultural venues leading up to, and during, the City of Culture year.

A competition will be held to design and develop a temporary touring venue that could be sited at different locations such as parks and fields, bringing a cultural venue with a capacity of around 400 to areas that may not have any existing provision.

And there will be opportunities for artists to develop installations across the district.

Referring to the grants, Dan Bates, City of Culture director, said: "We want to support the cultural infrastructure across the district.

"We want to be able to use all the venues we can, as well as creating more of them. Money might go to a building that currently has no public access, for example."

Keighley woman Shanaz Gulzar, creative director for City of Culture, says: "The year of delivery is 2025, but we’re trying to create opportunities to develop and grow over the next two years.

"We’re striving to make sure the district’s cultural scene is fit for purpose and to keep the momentum going.

"In 2025 it is about Bradford owning its narrative. We’ve been awarded City of Culture, now we need to tell our story.

"Bradford has its cultural plan, and 2025 is going to turbocharge it."

She said the successful City of Culture bid had helped secure funding for a number of district institutions in the past year.

Late last year, the Arts Council announced it would increase the amount it allocated to Bradford by 89 per cent.

Groups and organisations to benefit would be the district’s four council-run museums, including Cliffe Castle in Keighley, and Bradford Literature Festival.

In March it was announced that Kala Sangam arts venue in the city centre would receive a £4.9m boost from the Government’s Cultural Investment Fund, and that the National Science and Media Museum would be awarded £3m from the National Lottery to help fund a refurbishment.