Cultural Connections

Oriental Arts has been awarded £30,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for a project to capture the rich history and cultural traditions of South Asian music and dance and the impact it has had on Bradford’s history.

Oriental Arts was successful with its bid from the Heritage Lottery Fund for a £30,000 project to uncover the history, cultural traditions and impact of South Asian music and dance of Bradford's older generation of South Asian immigrants from the 1950s to the present day.

Bradford has traditionally been associated with the textiles industry and since the 1950s it attracted a large influx of migrants from South Asia to fill factory jobs in the rapidly growing industry. Many of the young men who arrived had not envisaged permanent stay however by the late 1960s most decided to settle and called for their wives and children to move to the UK. By the 1970s the City had a large Asian community who now saw West Yorkshire as their home but felt there was a lack of cultural events and entertainment that catered for its first generation of South Asians and felt disconnected from their musical heritage. Consequently Oriental Arts was set up to promote South Asian arts activities in the City and the first event was organised in 1976 as a variety show of Bollywood music and dance in Central Library Theatre. The event attracted a huge audience and was the start of bringing diverse communities together to celebrate music and dance of the Indian sub-continent and to recognise these events as regular components of their social life in the UK.

35 years ago, Oriental Arts were pioneers in this field, among very few organisations outside London that delivered this kind of work. Today the South Asian music and dance scene is diverse and thriving in the north of England, networked across the UK and beyond. Cultural Connections aims to make the history of this unique organisation visible and accessible, celebrating the impact it has made and encouraging a new generation to engage with these cultural traditions.

Fiona Spiers, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund, Yorkshire and the Humber said "The South Asian Community has played an important role in Bradford's lively and varied character. This project will uncover the rich history and cultural traditions of South Asian music and dance from the 1950's onwards, bringing together different generations to learn about this unique heritage."

Champak Kumar Limbachia, Artistic Director of Oriental Arts, commented "We are delighted to receive the support from Heritage Lottery Fund to deliver this project. The heritage represents an important part of the history of Bradford and is not only important to the older generation and young British Asians but also to the City's other diverse communities, to recognise, understand and celebrate Bradford's rich multicultural heritage."