The BD:Walls team are seeking an artist to work in Ravenscliffe and create a new mural based on the area, its community and its heritage.

ABOUT BRADFORD 2025

Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture (Bradford 2025) runs from January 2025 to December 2025 and is a celebration of Bradford city and district, taking place across its city, towns, villages and greenspaces. It will showcase the rich history of the area and spotlight its dynamic contemporary culture in all forms; dance and theatre, music and film, visual arts and crafts, food and sport.

The City of Culture designation has already brought significant investment to the region and been a catalyst for development. It is set to have a lifelong impact through its reshaping of the local curriculum, skills and training programmes, investment in existing and new creative spaces, and open up opportunities for cultural participation.

You can find out more about Bradford 2025 on our website.

ABOUT BD:WALLS

BD:Walls is a series of murals to be commissioned across the Bradford District over the next two years. Throughout 2024 and 2025 several large, medium and small street artworks will appear on walls across Bradford city centre and neighbourhoods. The project will culminate in a district wide trail of permanent and semi-permanent art works, accessible to all, with a digital map hosted on the BD25 website. 

Animating empty walls with vibrant and meaningful artworks of scale will help to revitalise spaces, celebrate diversity, change negative perceptions about Bradford, and promote pride in the city. This project will take a mixture of approaches to allow for different artistic expression and community ownership, whilst linking artworks with themes relevant to Bradford, it’s people and heritage, or to specific areas of the city. As the murals will be located across the district, they will act as a positive reminder of what the year of culture delivered and meant for people and communities, as well as raising aspirations by showcasing the work of national and international artists in the city.

BD:Walls will provide increased opportunities for local artists through direct commissions and a Street Artist Talent Development Programme which has been designed to support new and existing talent from Bradford district. Local artists will be mentored by more established street artists to support early career development, promote more diversity in street art, and have the opportunity to showcase their own work in designated areas. As well as commissioned artists, the project will have a strong community engagement element. The public have been asked to nominate walls in their area and selected artists will engage directly in community consultation in the creation of their art works. 

The project is part of the wider Heritage programme for BD25 and will aim to address key areas through the different commissions – see below.

ABOUT RAVENSCLIFFE

Ravenscliffe is a housing estate in the Eccleshill ward of the Bradford District. Ravenscliffe is located to the west of Fagley Beck and to the east of the Harrogate Road. Ravenscliffe Woods are in Pudsey to the south-east. There’s also an adventure playground, a swimming pool, schools, and a sportsground.

The housing estate was built after the First World War, as a ‘Garden Estate’, to provide modern housing with space to grow food, access nature and raise a family, mainly for those who had served in the military.

The main historical archive of the building of the estate was gathered as part of the ‘Seeds of the Past’ project. The team described how the estate was ‘aspirational’ when built, with running hot water and bathrooms which were luxuries virtually unknown to most people. “People hated moving off because it was back to an outside toilet [and] [p]eople really took care of it, it was a huge community.” You can find out more about the project, and read personal testimonies here.

The Gateway Centre, established in 1983, received its own building 12 years ago, and is one of the hubs for the community, with activities for everyone on the estate, and has become the place to access the archive from the Seeds of the Past project.

Many young people and families attend activities at Ravenscliffe Youth Centre, where the mural is located, and where a team of youth workers are based. The youth centre undertakes partnership work between various, local statutory and voluntary organisations, ensuring that there is opportunities for people of all ages, from the toddlers, the youth who access the youth centre, and the many social older people’s groups. The centre has views of the woodlands, which the local ‘friends of’ groups looks after. This green space, which links from Leeds Liverpool Canal and the whole area is part of the Leeds Country Way walking route.

Before the estate was built, the area was not developed and was the site of an ancient ‘Holy Well’, which has now been covered over.

These were often centres for folkloric myths or believed to be healing. This well is said to date back to Roman times.The area was also used for coalmining to provide energy to the textiles and pottery industries

You can see some historical images of the estate, and those who lived here, using this link.

A local youth worker noted that, ‘The area of Ravenscliffe and the people living here have a real sense of belonging, and great community spirit – when community events etc are run, it's great to see how they come together in huge numbers.’

ARTIST BRIEF

The BD:Walls team are seeking an artist to work in Ravenscliffe and create a new mural based on the area, its community and its heritage.

The artist will work with local communities, across 2 workshop sessions, and with the BD:Walls team, to develop the mural design. The design will draw inspiration, and feature, residents, stories and places linked to the area. The mural should be impactful and engaging for the young people and families that live on the estate.

The artist will then deliver the mural with support from the Bradford 2025 team in areas such as height access, health and safety, project management and workshop delivery.

Historically street art tends to focus on the city centres. We want to provide opportunities in suburban areas, with a strong character and heritage, to celebrate across the whole of the Bradford District.

This opportunity is open to all artists to apply, you may have only been painting for a small amount of time or might be an established national artist. We will need to see a proven track record of delivering mural projects and experience in working in community, engagement or participatory settings. An interest or track record in heritage community projects would be ideal. You will need some examples of your work in order to be considered.

We strongly encourage applications from artists with a connection to Ravenscliffe, Bradford or any of the communities, cultures and histories that are present in the area. We also strongly encourage applications from artists who are often underrepresented in visual art, street art and graffiti.

You don’t need to have an iPAF qualification but please make us aware if you do have a current, valid license.

ABOUT THE SITE, AND PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Wall size –

Height to apex - 5.2m

Height to eves - 3.2m

Width - 11.1m

Area - 46.62m2

Location – Ravenscliffe Youth Centre, Roundwood Avenue, Bradford, BD10 0LL

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Wall surface – Brick

TIMELINE

17/02/25 BRIEF CLOSES

24/02/25 Selection by panel, artists notified, Artist contracting.

03/03/25 Engagement development with BD25 team and artist

10/03/25 Engagement development and recruitment - all sessions booked, attendees invited, external comms shared

14/04/25 Engagement session 1

21/04/25 Engagement session 2

28/04/25 Artist design work

05/05/25 Artist design work / Wall prep

12/05/25 Artist painting

19/05/25 Documentation, audiences

26/05/25 Evaluation

FEE

Artist fee: £3,000 [LB1] [AB2] based on 12 days work, at £250 per day.

The suggested breakdown for this is:

2.5 days – Research, planning engagement sessions and session delivery

4 days – Design and amendments

5 days – Painting

0.5 days - Evaluation

Materials covered by Bradford 2025, to be agreed once artist is appointed and design developed.