YOUTH, cultural experience and Bradford roots are the hallmarks of new recruits on the team driving Bradford’s bid to be UK City of Culture 2025.

The new recruits are from some of the district’s most significant cultural organisations, including Mind The Gap, Bradford Literature Festival and The Brick Box, and will each play a vital role in working with communities district-wide to engage people in a conversation about Bradford 2025’s ambitions and plans. They will be listening to ideas for activities to bring people together, celebrating the distinctive elements of the district for the 2025 bid, which will be delivered to Government in 2021.

Bradford is the youngest city in the UK, with 29 per cent of its population under 20 and nearly a quarter under 16, and it’s also one of the most diverse in the UK. The team will be shining a light on the district’s cultural life, planning new work revealing authentic Bradford stories, developing regional, national and international collaborations and amplifying a range of contemporary voices.

May McQuade, 30, and Pakeezah Zahoor, 29, will work together as Programme and Community Co-ordinators across Bradford. Their roles are to ensure that local voices and ideas are connected with and integrated into the 2025 bid. May will simultaneously continuing her role as Creative Engagement Co-ordinator at Bradford theatre company Mind The Gap. Pakeezah previously worked in community engagement at Bradford Literature Festival and for The Science Museum Group.

Si Cunningham, 33, Communications and Bid Development Manager, has worked as a journalist for national titles and has been chairman of Bradford Civic Society since 2017. Si is a director of Bradford Business Improvement District and a member of Bradford Economic Recovery Board. His 2025 role sees him working with partners, stakeholders and organisations to devise and deliver a compelling bid, manage large-scale research programmes and collaborate with a range of people and groups regionally and nationally.

Research Intern Hunnan Haider, 28, joins the team in a fixed term role with support from the University of Bradford, strategic partner of the 2025 bid, where he studied Marketing, graduating this year. Hunnan will lead on database compilation, undertaking research and analysis on a district-wide workforce study, the creative and cultural industries research programme, the impact of tourism and the visitor economy and audiences and participation research. Marketing and Campaign Co-ordinator Jack Lynch, 27, will work for Bradford 2025, in addition to his work for the Peace Museum and Compass Live Art. Part of the team that delivered the Southbank Centre’s WOW festival in Bradford, Jack has worked in arts and cultural marketing for several years.

Bradford 2025 Bid Director Richard Shaw said: “Following the recent announcement of the new Board directors and new Chair of the 2025 bid I’m delighted to welcome this talented team. I’m absolutely confident that we have in this team some of the next generation of cultural leaders of this district. And for the youngest city in Europe it’s absolutely right that the future of the bid should be in the hands of these exceptionally talented young people - individually they each bring unique qualities to the bid, collectively they’re a winning team.”