Bradford arts groups to share £1m cash boost

The £1m funding grant is The Leap arts programme's biggest so far

Members of a Bradford arts programme are celebrating after confirming their biggest round of community grants.

The Leap will give out £1m to around 140 new projects run by individuals and groups across Bradford and Keighley.

Each project will get between £250 and £10,000 to spend on creative schemes and events.

The group is funded by Arts Council England, as well as Bradford Council, and is aimed at promoting community-led arts, culture and heritage initiatives.

Shabz Musaji, from The Leap, said everyone was "really looking forward to seeing all these projects come to life".

"We want to inspire the next level of young people as well as all other groups to come forward to engage with The Leap," he said.

"We're looking forward to promoting arts and culture, because there are a lot of beneficiaries to this.

"We have projects that address metal health; we have projects that address heritage.

"These are really good things to talk about and to celebrate."

Jayne Webster, from the Bradford School of Rock and Media Ltd, plans to put on a new festival day

Funding is expected to be given to projects in areas of deprivation and where people's involvement with the arts is shown to be low.

Jayne Webster, from Bradford School of Rock and Media Ltd, which is based in Little Germany, said she hoped a planned new festival day would bring communities together through music.

“We’ll have a festival fun day that represents as many local communities as we possibly can, through music, food and the entertainment we put on.

“Users of the School of Rock will showcase some of their own work and will organise the whole day.

“It has a history of supporting young people, and anybody basically, through the love of music.

“This funding will give us a chance to speak about what we do and to reach people."