Portrait of a Nation

Bradford's Portrait of a Nation team!

For Fizza and the others taking part from across Bradford, it's ironically the city of Liverpool which is perhaps uppermost in their minds as Portrait of a Nation gets properly underway this summer. After all, the European Capital of Culture 2008 is where they're all hoping to be in December when all their hard work between now and then climaxes in a spectacular festival. In the meantime, though, there's a lot of hard work - plenty of thinking and doing - to make sure the group does Bradford proud.

From Bradford to Liverpool!

Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the idea behind Portrait of a Nation is simple: it's a chance for people from Bradford and 17 other cities across the UK to look at what's so special to them about where they come from, their local culture, community and - one of 2008's real buzzwords - identity. Obviously, the cities taking part in this will all have their own takes on how to do this, but Bradford's participants already have a clear idea how they're going to approach the project. 'Threads' is its name and it sounds like fashion is its game! Jan Bruce, the project co-ordinator in Bradford, says the aim is to create a spectacular showcase celebrating the city's rich textile heritage and how the lives and backgrounds of young people in Bradford in 2008 fit in to the story of the city in the past, present and future. Why textiles, you might ask? Well, that's what made Bradford famous throughout the whole world in the first place! Jan explains how the team's already going about making a bang for Bradford: "We're looking at a fashion show with a difference...We're hoping for an all-singing, all-dancing sort of event looking at identity and culture. It's not just expressing fashion but expressing themselves and where they come from and why they're here in Bradford."

Already, everybody involved is getting passionate, wanting to do their bit to make sure 'Threads' is something special. After all, says Simon - one of those taking part - the city's worth it: "Bradford's the most exciting place to be. There's all sorts going on up here! The one thing that stops people thinking about Bradford in such a nice light is that you have to scratch the surface a lot before you can get to the more exciting things that are going on sometimes." And if there's one thing that Simon wants people to get out of the project? That's easy, says Simon, it's a 'celebration' of the city!

"I'm Sonia and I joined Portrait of a Nation in Bradford to gain some confidence!"

"I'm Bekki and I joined Portrait of a Nation in Bradford to get better at my art skills and just learn new things!"

"Hi, I'm Rakhshindah and I joined Portrait of a Nation in Bradford to gain confidence too!"

"I'm Hattie and I joined Portrait of a Nation in Bradford to learn new things!"

"I'm Simon and I joined Portrait of a Nation in Bradford because it sounds really exciting!"

"I'm Laura and I joined Portrait of a Nation in Bradford because it's good fun and I like doing art projects like this!"

"I'm Maryam and I joined Portrait of a Nation in Bradford to learn new skills!"

"I'm Fizza and I joined because I want to represent Bradford...I thought it'd be a good opportunity to meet other young people from Bradford and represent ourselves and hopefully have some fun as well!"

Jan: "All-singing, all-dancing!"

New skills, more confidence and some fun along the way - that sounds like a pretty good recipe for success. In fact, Bradford's ideas for the Portrait of a Nation project are already receiving interest from far afield with some of the team being invited to the Houses of Parliament in July to give a briefing to MPs! The Honourable Members are wanting to find out more about how Bradford's team is approaching this challenge - the only team besides Liverpool's which has been asked to do go down to London to show what they're planning to do and why. Clearly, they must think there's something special going on here!