Dynamo works his magic on Bradford to launch UK City of Culture 2025

Thousands braved sub-zero temperatures to watch an outdoor extravaganza, launching Bradford’s year as UK City of Culture. The spectacle featured magician Steven Frayne (formerly known as Dynamo), a 10-year-old rapper, and a dozen aerial dancers. Frayne stated that his career began with street magic in the city’s parks, where the opening ceremony was held, and he believes his hometown will "make its mark on the world" in 2025.

Organizers said that around 10,000 people watched the show despite temperatures dropping to -3C. Bradford is the fourth UK City of Culture, a title awarded every four years. The scheme aims to boost tourism, the economy, and the reputation of the selected city, with Bradford's year receiving £15 million in government funding. Other events will include the Turner Prize, a national painting project inspired by Bradford-born artist David Hockney, and an exhibition about the similarities between boxing and calligraphy.

Frayne said that headlining Friday's opening ceremony was "beyond words." He told BBC News beforehand: "To be able to perform on such a massive stage that's built for people to share wonder is a dream come true. I'm incredibly proud to be from Bradford. It's not always been the easiest place to grow up… so to be a small part of this celebration is incredible."

The opening show, titled "Rise," involved 200 performers, including 10-year-old rapper Cruzy T, poets, musicians, and dancers, as well as Frayne. The themes were about truthfully showcasing pride, unity, diversity, and overcoming adversity. On two stages, scaffolding towers formed stacks of boxes containing performers, with slogans and visuals of the city and its people projected onto the front. Projections were also used to transform the towers into Frayne's childhood home, with a young actor playing a child version of Frayne, before the real magician invited the audience to participate in a series of magic tricks. The show will be repeated on Saturday.

Bradford 2025 creative director Shanaz Gulzar said the opening event aimed to show that Bradford and the UK are "hugely diverse, representative, resilient and strong, and capable of creating magic and the impossible". She hopes the year will bring pride to Bradfordians, attract more investment, and show a new side of the city. “There are certain media reports and images about Bradford, and it’s not true,” she said. “Every city in the UK has flashpoints, has challenges, and you need to give these places space and time to respond to them and overcome them. We are not just a flashpoint, we are not just a moment, we are not just challenges – we are also opportunities.”

Gulzar said that winning the City of Culture title had also attracted funding that had allowed a £6m refurbishment of the National Science and Media Museum. The museum reopened this week after an 18-month closure and is hosting an exhibition of selected Hockney videos and photography. Meanwhile, the Hockney-inspired painting project will run throughout the year. Other highlights include events celebrating Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar, a season of films made by northern working-class women, the installation of a new 15-meter (50ft) sculpture in the city center, and an exhibition of striking surrealist photographs by Ethiopian photographer Aida Muluneh. That exhibition will then tour to Cardiff, Belfast, and Glasgow – the first time City of Culture events have toured to all four nations of the UK.

Gulzar said winning the City of Culture title had also been instrumental in attracting a new BRIT School, which has trained stars including Adele and Tom Holland. It is expected to open in 2027. However, the title has not worked magic on everything in Bradford's cultural scene. The former Bradford Odeon, next to the site of Friday’s launch event, had been planned to reopen as a music venue for the City of Culture year after a £50m refurbishment. But the NEC Group pulled out of operating it last year, leaving the venue empty, and the city council is looking for a new operator.

Previous Cities of Culture – Derry-Londonderry, Hull, and Coventry – all received more attention and investment during their year, but results and feelings about the scheme’s lasting impact after the year ended have been mixed. Bradford's cultural credentials include: the Brontë sisters – Emily, Charlotte, and Anne – who lived in Haworth in the Bradford district; composer Frederick Delius, who was born in Bradford in 1862; playwright JB Priestley, who wrote his most famous work, An Inspector Calls, in 1945; David Hockney, considered Britain’s greatest living artist, who was born in the city and studied at Bradford School of Art in the 1950s; and playwright Andrea Dunbar, best known for her 1982 play Rita, Sue and Bob Too. As well as five contemporary cultural heroes: One Direction idol Zayn Malik, who is an ambassador for Bradford 2025; bassline rap trio Bad Boy Chiller Crew, who were nominated for best group at the 2023 Brits; jungle music producer Nia Archives, who was nominated for the Mercury Prize last year; comic artist Zoe Thorogood, who was nominated for five Eisner Awards ("the Oscars of comic books") in 2023; and crime novelist AA Dhand, whose books about detective Harry Virdee are being adapted into a major BBC One drama series.