What makes a music city?
The main points that are expanded on in this video are identifying existing assets, identifying challenges, looking at leadership and strategy and how those people could or are supporting a city’s music scene and looking at what can realistically be done.
In this project, we’ve followed this structure to find out how Bingley and Bradford as a whole could grow as music spaces. My page is less structured than this, but I think I have covered each point with relevant details.
What does Bradford already have?
While Bradford does have many aspects that could be said to be keeping the music scene alive, there needs to be more in order to be considered anything close to a music city.
In the video above, a focus point was existing assets. A good starting point is finding out what is in central Bradford.
Venues
By searching for music venues in Bradford, here’s what I found in city centre. There’s 11 different places to do with performance which could all be used by local performers and bands, but some of them aren’t giving people that opportunity.
Bradford Live is a building which is being renovated for future performances, and as such cannot be used at the moment.
Bradford Bandroom is temporarily closed for unknown reasons. There aren’t any photos of this place, so it might not be accurate and could have been closed for a very long time.
Burnel rooms at Bradford playhouse is also temporarily closed and has not been regarded on Bradford playhouse’s site besides the overall description.
The Studio is a small theatre and rehearsal space across from the Alhambra theatre. I had never heard of this previous of today, but it looks like it would be a good small – medium size venue for local bands. They also do workshops and events, so they’re varied and versatile.
1 in 12 club appears to be a small music venue for bands that play metal and similar genres and I am under the impression that it’s only open over the weekend. They don’t currently have a website but they do use Facebook so bands and people who are interested in seeing bands can contact them.
Tickles music hall appears to be a medium sized venue for local bands. I think it’s also a bar. The aesthetic is very much dad rock, but I think bands of other styles could quite comfortably play here and still have good audience interaction.
The Underground is known for various styles but predominantly rock, which means a lot of bands from all over Bradford and surrounding towns see this venue as an ideal performance space to see a good audience response.
Nightrain seems similar in the fact that there are various bands of different styles that play and is mainly known for rock. The impression is that they have less links than The Underground.
Rehearsal Spaces
Within Bradford, there are a few different rehearsal spaces that are available for the public. Most are reasonably priced. However, all of them are spaced out and not many of them are easy to get to. They’re listed below:
Prospect Studios
PIRATE
Voltage Studios
SORM Studios
Other things
Pubs hosting live music and open mic nights are pretty common, especially around where I live. People could easily use this if they had adequate equipment, because pubs aren’t likely to provide anything other than a space, an audience and advertisement.
There are no cafes that I know of that do live music near me or in central Bradford, this is an idea that could be acted upon.
Festivals on a large scale are rare in Bradford, the only well-known festival I can think of is Saltaire festival and Bradford Pride, if that counts. There are occasionally food festivals or live music events held in city centre, but this isn’t very common. 2023 has been a good year for city centre events, though, so hopefully the frequency of events will continue to increase.
@bradford.musicscene on Instagram regularly posts about upcoming events and advertises events upon request if they deem them to be legitimate events. In past experience, they have posted about PLUGGED IN after request and continued to support us all the way up to the night of the show.
What could help Bradford grow as a music city?
Bradford 2025 is an excellent opportunity for venues to find funding to stay open for longer and host more events. There are multiple types of grants that Bradford 2025 are stating are available and some places have already been confirmed to be receiving funding, like Mind The Gap Studios.
This is the full list (as of 28/11/23) of the spaces that are receiving funding for upgrades of all types, under the title of cultural capital grants:
Besides venue funding, schools inspiring students to pick up music outside of standard music lessons would grow the musical population of Bradford and push the need for more musical spaces. This could be done by offering free instrumental lessons outside of GCSE music or introducing instrument loan plans so students can practice an instrument outside of school hours and get to feel more comfortable and have fun at their own pace.
Rehearsal rooms at the moment are very spread out and I would personally have to take two buses as a minimum to get to any of them, which is not convenient when carrying instruments. A good quality rehearsal space in or near city centre would be really convenient, would be used by a lot of people meaning the studio owners would make a decent income and would become well-known based solely on the location initially. For this to happen, funding would be required and the need for a space like this would have to be vocalised.
More instrument stores / keeping instrument stores open is really important as I have never been to a music store of any kind when I need to and have instead ordered everything online. There have been several music stores that have closed over the years in Bradford.
How is Bradford 2025 going to help grow the music scene and support musicians?
Bradford 2025 is already changing the music scene in Bradford as people are seeking out performance opportunities and watching what Bradford 2025 are doing to benefit them. People will be more hopeful of what’s to come and the future of music in our city. With grants already being planned, places are now actively improving and stating that they want to improve for the overall satisfaction of Bradford’s population.
The grant scheme is set out in three major categories, as follows:
Type 1: Grants for artists and creatives.
Type 2: Grants for community led organisations.
Type 3: Micro grants for community and volunteer groups.
Grants for artists and creatives covers creative individuals, collectives, companies, festivals and their organisers, as well as other similar circumstances that are not stated on the site. This means individuals and collectives may now have more access to equipment to create music or other forms of art, festival funding will be added to and there will be room for expansion for the festivals that already take place.
Grants for community-led organisations includes grants for places like youth clubs and community centres, of which can be funded for various workshops to get people involved in creative activities at a larger scale.
Micro grants for community and volunteer groups could cover smaller groups that engage in creative activities with things like finding a venue to host these activities or funding equipment. The purpose of this appears to be for community and volunteer groups that don’t need as big a grant as larger organisations.
The three grant types cover a large basis and each grant has rounds of when they will give out grants and selection, meaning the change in Bradford music’s scene will be gradual and not overwhelming and all at once.
What does Bingley already have?
Bingley does have a music studio that locals can use called Spellsound, as well as a place called Bingley music school that offers lessons in guitar, bass, ukulele, piano, drums, vocals and music theory, but their website has very little information and has no information about prices.
Bingley also has a bus to Bradford Interchange, which can be used to quickly travel to other music related events.
In terms of venues, there is the local cafes that can host solo or duo acoustic performances and the arts centre that host gigs semi-regularly. Some bars host live music nights, so bands can gain experience and become known by the locals.
The Bingley music town site explains what is on around the town and what people of all ages and ability can get involved in, which will be helpful especially if more people are aware of it.
What could help Bingley grow as a music town?
Bingley Music Town could use Instagram as a promotional tool as a lot of people would be interested in following what they could post, if it was similarly structured to Bradford Music Scene’s page.
Some band based venues could really help local bands of various genres gain experience with performance and make some profit from performing, however finding the money to make this kind of place would be difficult.
There are multiple places within Bingley town centre that could be adapted for music, like the market square that have electrical outlets ready for equipment. The problem with trying to do this would be legality and organising it with the local council, as well as finding equipment and creating a risk assessment.
Do I think I would be able to live as a musician and make a living in Bradford?
I don’t think I would choose Bradford to try make a living in as a musician. While there will be several regular gig opportunities and jobs available, I feel as though Leeds is much better for a career. Personally I want to go into working in a studio and there are no opportunities to do so, unless I request a volunteer place. Additionally, in comparison to Leeds, Bradford is relatively small so there are nowhere near as many venues or studios as Leeds.