National Gallery Art Road Trip In Bradford

The National Gallery is one of the greatest art galleries in the world. Founded by Parliament in 1824, the Gallery houses the nation’s collection of paintings in the Western European tradition from the late 13th to the early 20th century. The collection includes works by Cézanne, Degas, Leonardo, Monet, Raphael, Rembrandt, Rubens, Titian, Turner and Van Gogh. On 10 May 2024 the National Gallery was 200 years old and for the last year has been celebrating its past and looking forward to the future with a 12 month festival of art, creativity and imagination which sets the tone for the third century. As part of this they are hitting the road and in February 2025 The National Gallery is coming to Bradford!

The Art Road Trip will offer an inspiring and inventive art studio on wheels, full of high-quality art materials, ideas and creativity. The project places special emphasis on people who have the least access to the arts and creative opportunities. The initiative seeks to champion the creativity of individuals who might otherwise feel excluded from cultural opportunities.

For the last year the National Gallery has been collaborating with Bradford arts and culture support organisation The Leap to enable Bradford’s communities to engage with their national collection. The Art Road Trip will visit communities in Bradford Moor, and Holme Wood to create community-led arts projects, with support from The Leap designing events for people with the least access to creative opportunities and the arts.   

Stuart Blackburn, Community Development Manager at The Leap is coordinating the visit to Bradford. He said, “This is a unique opportunity for two of our most vibrant communities to celebrate and share their vision and creativity with one of the most prestigious Gallery’s in the world”

There will be a wide variety of arts and cultural experiences available to both communities ranging from mural making, clay work, a family friendly Eid themed event and of course painting and visual arts. The project will reach out to school kids, families, people living in care homes, it’s open to everyone and is two magical weeks of art and creativity; a once in a lifetime opportunity!

Amjid Hussain, one of the board of directors at Bradford Moor PASS said “This is a great opportunity for people in Bradford to enjoy art of national significance and the highest quality. We are really excited to be working with The National Gallery and The Leap to involve communities in Bradford Moor who would otherwise not have this type of opportunity. It has created a huge amount of interest, and all the better that it’s happening during Bradford’s City of Culture 2025 celebrations”

The events will take place Holme Wood visiting the TFD Youth Hub, Knowles Court Care Home and Holme Wood Library between 13^th and 16^th February and Bradford Moor working with The Leap Creative Place Partners Bradford Moor PASS at the Lasiterdyke Hub between 19^th to 23^rd February. If you would like to read more about Art Road Trip and the Gallery’s NG200 Bicentenary celebrations https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/across-the-uk/art-road-trip To find out more about the National Gallery Collection visit https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/collection-overview