After its success last year, Intercultured festival is back this October, offering more than before.

The festival in association with BIASAN will run from October 20 to October 30, with 10 days of arts, culture, workshops, and conversations, all free to attend.

The creators have timed this with half-term holidays in mind with designated events for children.

Mussarat Rahman, founder of Bradford Intercultured Festival, said: “Last year, we were hearing from local communities that they needed a voice and that they had so many issues and concerns, so we decided to hold the festival online, as it was the pandemic.

“It gave us the opportunity to explore and provide platforms to refugee communities, and to other communities we work with.

“There are issues with people being racist, Islamophobic and homophobic.

 “But we want people to come and discover the richness of Bradford.

“We welcome anybody who walks through our doors.

“We want to show the diversity of Bradford.

“We have worked with refugees who have cooked different food for us every week – and some of them have now even gone on to set up their own businesses, which shows the richness of the people we work with.

The festival takes place at venues across the city and some events will be online.

Kala Sangam Arts Centre will be hosting a world class music concert from headline act Rafiki Jazz on Saturday 23 October.

This group of star musicians and singers from Africa, India, the Middle East, South America and Europe are led by inspirational Sufi soul singer Sarah Yaseen, for an evening of divine, absorbing and borderless music.

On 28 October I'm Muslamic Don't Panik an autobiographical show by Bobak Champion, Bristolian, Iranian and Hip-Hop head can also be seen at Kala Sangam - part live music, part dance, part spoken word with a healthy dose of clowning.

Throughout the festival an exhibition of work created by local Bradfordians, titled ‘Humanising’ will be available from October 20, in all venues, as a booklet, showing powerful artwork created by refugees, asylum seekers, members of the Deaf Women’s Society, LGBTQI and youth communities.

The exhibition highlights the positive contributions to society such diverse groups have and continue to make.

“This year, now we are out of the pandemic, we decided to put on a proper festival.

“We started fundraising and have got a lot of support.

Intercultured Festival is supported and funded by Arts Council England, Bradford BID, The Leap, Platforma, Bradford City Council, Bradford Refugee Forum, Spin Arts and venues Common Space (Commonwealth Theatre), Kala Sangam Arts Centre and Bradford Deaf Community Association.

Four cooking workshops are on offer, with the chance to learn dishes from across the world including Syrian sweets, Iraqi and Caribbean traditional dishes. 

For anyone with children, there will a Bradford Family Fun Day from 12pm - 5pm on Friday October 29, or if you are closer to Keighley, this year you can join in at the Airedale shopping centre on Saturday October 30, 12-4pm with a whole host of creative workshops suitable for all the family to take part in

“We have a massive diversity this time around, as we have workshops across Bradford and in Keighley.

“Bradford has a rich history of cultures and communities moving into the area.

“I feel like we have a beautiful cultural melting pot and such lovely diverse communities within our district.

“My focus has been trying to provide a platform for them.

“Society is changing, and the world is changing – a lot more migrants have come into Bradford in the last 10 years, and these communities have brought in different food, knowledge and awareness.

“There is so much to tap into, but we haven’t even scratched the surface yet.

“We are trying to show people that we are one world and one community – we are no different from each other."