Bradford has secured further National Lottery Heritage Fund support aimed at turning the momentum from its City of Culture year into lasting community projects and heritage work across the district.
Funding to protect untold stories and support community groups
The new package of awards, totalling £400,000, will help preserve and promote aspects of Bradford’s cultural history highlighted during 2025’s festival year. Among the projects receiving money are a community-led scheme to record the textile traditions of South Asian Muslim women and a grants programme enabling local groups to apply for small-scale heritage activity ahead of a heritage festival next summer.
"Bradford boasts some of the most amazing heritage assets and stories that are pivotal in creating the district's unique sense of place," said Helen Featherstone, director for the North at The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
One award of £160,000 has been made to Better Communities Bradford for a project called Hidden Threads: Revealing the Heritage of South Asian Muslim Women. The initiative is designed to document and share embroidery techniques, migration stories and family traditions that have often been passed down informally and remain largely undocumented.
A further £249,974 has been allocated to The Leap for a community grants programme. This will invite local organisations and groups to bid for sums between £500 and £10,000 to run activities that celebrate and sustain cultural traditions in the run-up to next year’s heritage festival.
Why this matters for Bradford
The district’s 2025 City of Culture year attracted millions of participants and highlighted Bradford’s diverse arts, heritage and community networks. Earlier Lottery funding for the City of Culture amounted to £4.95m, supporting a wide range of events and commissions. The latest funding is intended to ensure that some of those projects develop into long-term programmes rather than one-off events.
- Preservation of textile and domestic craft skills linked to South Asian Muslim communities
- Small grants to enable grassroots heritage activity across the district
- Support for artist residencies, documentary work and community-led research
Abbas Najib, chief executive of Better Communities Bradford, said the Hidden Threads project will safeguard not just techniques but also memories and experiences so they can be appreciated by later generations.
| Recipient | Project | Award |
|---|---|---|
| Better Communities Bradford | Hidden Threads (textile heritage) | £160,000 |
| The Leap | Community grants programme | £249,974 |
Officials say the new grants will complement earlier investments made through Bradford Culture Company and other bodies. Projects already under development include artist residencies, a documentary on rural spaces in the district and a book charting the African Caribbean communities of Bradford in the 1980s.
Community groups interested in applying for grant funding should look out for details from The Leap and local cultural partners as the heritage festival approaches next summer.
