LOCAL artists and performers will be put centre stage at Bradford Festival in July.

The three-day event will run from Friday, July 28, to Sunday July 30, mainly based in City Park.

At the event, singers, dancers, actors and artists from the Bradford district will entertain the crowds with a wide range of shows and performances.

Mind the Gap, a theatre company for people with learning disabilities, will perform its play Mirror Mirror for the first time, which explores the experiences of people who are considered ‘different’ in society.

Dancers Shrikant Subramaniam, of Shipley, and Jyoti Manrai, of Bradford, will perform a piece which tells the story of British soldiers in the Great War.

Fused Imagination, formerly known as the Bradford Playhouse, will perform a light-hearted and interactive children’s show titled Red Bill’s Air Race.

Children in the audience will be invited to help teach the main character Bill to fly, and there will also be a crafts zone for budding pilots to build their own paper planes.

Also performing is Same Difference, who will be helping their professors complete important research with a bit of assistance from the audience to finish building its Sense-o-Matic machine.

Shipley-based arts company Q20 will show Elephant Gigante, a new street theatre piece which is said to give visitors the chance to experience ‘the majesty and serenity of the Serengeti’.

Festival favourite Lou Sumray is also returning with her live sketching show, and will be bringing extra easels to allow members of the public to have a go.

There will also be a number of other musicians and artists performing pieces from around the world throughout thee festival, including Aatists assembled by renowned Asian arts organisation, Kala Sangam to perform Indo-African fusion music in Afrindo Strings.

Nationally-reputed, Jasdeep Degun on sitar will collaborate with internationally-famous kora artist, Tunde Jegede and the tabla player, Renu Hossain.

Bradford-based artist, Zareena Bano will help people make their own Steampunk-inspired top hats, arm braces, chunky bracelets, brooches, hair pins or frames in workshops with an atmosphere ‘full of enigma, wonderment and delight’.

Bobsie Robinson, culture, policy and events manager at Bradford Council which runs the festival, said: “The district has a vibrant and talented arts scene and we are very proud to showcase some of our best artists.

“Many are returning after having performed in previous years and it is wonderful to see them flourish.

“The festival continues to provide an important platform for local artist to develop and show new work and to meet and collaborate with artists from all over the world.”

In 2016, the Bradford Festival attracted over 150,000 people into Bradford city.

Admission is free.

FULL BRADFORD FESTIVAL LINE UP

FRIDAY, JULY 28

Rupert Stroud
5pm - Centenary Square Stage
Singer/songwriter tipped by critics as ‘the one to watch’

Fie! Fie! Fie!
6pm - Centenary Square Stage
A highly original indie/alternative band

SATURDAY, JULY 29

The Ska Vengers
7.30pm - Centenary Square Stage
Delhi-based band blending ska with of dub, punk, jazz and rap

Ling Peng and Friends
2.15pm - Centenary Square Stage
Chinese violin master virtuoso

The Crow House by Circo Rum Ba Ba
2.15pm and 4.15pm - Temporary Gardens, City Park
A street theatre frenzy of acrobatics, juggling and slap stick comedy

Elephant Gigante by Q20 Events
2.15pm, 3.45pm, 5.15pm - around City Park
Enormous, fully-animated puppets

War - A Scourge of Hearts by Shrikant Jyoti and Gayathri
1.45pm and 4pm - Mirror Pool, City Park
South Asian dance piece telling the story of British WW1 soldiers

Cake Ladies
1pm, 3.15pm, 4.15pm - Temporary Gardens, City Park
A saucy roaming tea party with human tables

Afrindo Strings
1pm - Centenary Square Stage
Contemporary Indo-African fusion music

PREMIERE: Mirror Mirror by Mind the Gap in collaboration with The Kazimier
12.15pm, 1.45pm, 4.30pm - around City Park
Playful and surreal performance about a strange mirrored being that has appeared in Bradford

Sand Sculpture Workshop with Sand In Your Eye
12pm to 6pm - Temporary Gardens, City Park
Learn to create amazing sand castles with master sculptors

Music workshops with the School of Rock and Media
12pm to 6pm - Temporary Gardens, City Park
Unlock your inner rock star by learning some instrument basics

Mexican Art workshop with Morwenna Catt
12pm to 6pm - City Park
Create bright, colourful crafts with a ‘Day of the Dead’ theme

Cardboard Joe and The Book of Mysteries by 154 Collective
12pm, 2.15pm, 4.30pm - City Park boardwalk
Interactive family music and storytelling activity

Red Bill's Air Race by Fused Imagination
12pm to 6pm - Temporary Gardens, City Park
Build paper planes with expert help to take part in a flying challenge

You Gotta Laugh with Sponge Tree
12pm, 2pm, 4.30pm - City Park pavilion roof
Workshop combing storytelling, yoga and laughter

Promenading Artist by Lou Sumray
12pm to 6pm - around City Park
Watch as charcoal drawings are created right before your eyes

Steampunk Creative Art Workshops with Zareena Art and Co
12pm to 6pm - City Park
Make your own Steampunk-inspired accessories

Put Yourself in The Picture with Wur Bradford
12pm to 6pm - City Park
Join artists to help make a collective piece of wall art celebrating Bradford's people

All at Sea by Acrojou
1.45pm, 3.15pm - around City Park's Mirror Pool
Street theatre about a lone boatman in limbo between life and death

Sense-O-Matic by Same Difference Arts
12pm, 2.45pm, 4.45pm - around City Park
Street theatre with a walkabout discovery machine

SUNDAY, JULY 30

PREMIERE: Mirror Mirror by Mind the Gap in collaboration with The Kazimier
1.45pm, 3.15pm, 4.45pm​ - around City Park
Playful and surreal performance about a strange mirrored being that has appeared in Bradford

Elephant Gigante by Q20 Events
1.45pm, 3.15pm, 4.45pm - around City Park
Enormous, fully-animated puppets

Bedraggled by Kitsch & Sync
1pm, 2.30pm, 4pm - around City Park
Comedy street theatre with bedraggled mermaids swept up on the shore

PREMIERE - Ice Cream: The Opera, A Freedom Studios and Skipton Building Society Camerata Co-Production, in association with Spin Arts
1pm, 3pm, 5.15pm - Mirror Pool, City Park
A 30-minute opera performed in and around two ice cream vans

Sand Sculpture Workshop with Sand In Your Eye
12pm to 6pm - Temporary Gardens, City Park
Learn to create amazing sand castles with master sculptors

Music workshops with the School of Rock and Media
12pm to 6pm - Temporary Gardens, City Park
Unlock your inner rock star by learning some instrument basics

Mexican Art workshop with Morwenna Catt
12pm to 6pm - City Park
Create bright, colourful crafts with a ‘Day of the Dead’ theme

Cardboard Joe and The Book of Mysteries by 154 Collective
12pm, 2.15pm, 4.30pm - City Park boardwalk
Interactive family music and storytelling activity

Promenading Artist by Lou Sumray
12pm to 6pm - around City Park
Watch as charcoal drawings are created right before your eyes

Put Yourself in The Picture with Wur Bradford
12pm to 6pm - City Park
Join artists to help make a collective piece of wall art celebrating Bradford's people

Sense-O-Matic by Same Difference Arts
12pm, 2.30pm, 4.15pm - around City Park
Street theatre with a walkabout discovery machine