Our Campaigns

THE GREAT EXHIBITION OF THE NORTH

In 2016 Bradford Breakthrough are active supporters of the bid to bring The Great Exhibition of the North to Bradford.

The Bradford bid was successful at the first stage and is now in the last four cities that are being considered to host the exhibition.  Sir Gary Verity will assess the bids and make a recommendation to the Government about which town or city should act as host.  The competition will celebrate great art, culture and design from the North of England and showcase local artists and performers, cultural organisations and creative businesses promoting innovative and entrepreneurial activity, and highlighting research conducted by universities in the region.

Bradford proposes an ambitious, innovative and highly participative programme enabled by digital technology.  The bit proposes to build on the strength of connections between people from diverse cultures in Bradford, across the north and globally and our collaborative and welcoming nature.  It is also inspired by our young and entrepreneurial population and the promising futures they hold for a prosperous District and Nation.

The  Council are urging local organisations and businesses to get behind Bradford’s bid and provide letters of support to this initiative and have sent a supporting letter that represents the views of all Bradford Breakthrough members and organisations.

IMPROVING BRADFORD’S IMAGE

Bradford Breakthrough is working to help promote Bradford and to raise its profile.  Since 2013 it has been doing this mainly through a series of events under the banner of “This is Bradford” where groups of journalists and other opinion formers are invited to the city.  During a brief tour, they are shown some of the projects going on in the city; they are able to meet key decision-makers in the city and they get a chance to sample Bradford’s cultural highlights.

IMPROVING BRADFORD’S LEADERSHIP

Bradford Breakthrough is involved in two main initiatives designed to help provide great leaders and role models in the city.  Firstly, in 2014 it initiated the ‘City Ambassadors, Bradford!” scheme to help train the city’s taxi drivers to be great ambassadors for the city.  In 2015 it started a coaching and mentoring project – pairing up its members with senior council officials to help try to foster even stronger leadership across Bradford’s public and private sectors.

IMPROVING BRADFORD’S CONNECTIVITY

Bradford Breakthrough has been working to connect Bradford better both in terms of transport but also economically and culturally.  It continues to lobby for public transport improvements including a rail link to Leeds-Bradford Airport, for the HS2 and HS3 rail projects as well as for improvements to local rail services and stations.

In addition, Bradford Breakthrough has organised major conferences to try to link Bradford economically – in 2014 its ‘A Taste of Bradford’ event helped make more restaurant  and hospitality businesses aware of the opportunities here.

In 2015 ‘The Business of Film’ conference highlighted the opportunities for business from the growing number of film and TV productions attracted to Bradford.