Dynamo is working its magic on Bradford to launch UK City of Culture 2025.

Thousands of people braved sub-zero temperatures to kick off Bradford’s year as UK City of Culture as magician Steven Frain, formerly known as Dynamo, a 10-year-old rapper and a dozen Braved to watch the spectacle in the open air with the aerial dancers.

Frain told the audience that he began his career performing street magic in City Park, where the opening ceremony was held, and that his hometown is “going to make its mark on the world” in 2025.

Organizers say around 10,000 people turned out to watch the show, which took place in -3C (26.6F) temperatures.

Bradford is the UK’s fourth city of culture, an honor awarded every four years.

The scheme is designed to boost the visitor numbers, economies and reputation of the selected city, and Bradford has received £15m of government funding a year.

Other events will include the Turner Prize, a national drawing project inspired by Bradford-born artist David Hockney, and an exhibition about the similarities between boxing and calligraphy.

Freyne said headlining Friday’s opening ceremony meant “more than I could ever put into words”.

He previously told BBC News that “to be in a place where there’s a huge stage in the middle so people can come and be part of a bit of a surprise, it’s a dream, it really is”.

“I’m very proud to be from Bradford. It’s not necessarily the easiest place to grow up… so to be a small, small part of it. [celebration]it’s just incredible.”

The inaugural show, titled Rise, featured a cast of 200 including 10-year-old rapper Cruz T Plus, poet, musician and dancer Phryne, whose theme was warts and all pride, unity, diversity and overcoming adversity.

On two stages, scaffold towers formed stacks of boxes containing actors, as slogans and scenes from the city and its people were projected onto the facade.

Projections were also used to transform the towers into Phren’s childhood home, with a young actor playing Phren as a boy before the real magician performed a series of tricks on the crowd. I am recruited to participate.

The show will be repeated on Saturday.

Bradford 2025 creative director Shahnaz Gulzar said the opening ceremony aimed to show that Bradford and the UK are “incredibly diverse, representative, resilient and strong, and capable of magical, impossible things”.

She hopes this year will make Bradford residents proud, bring in more investment and show the city a new face.

“There’s a certain press and a certain image of Bradford, which is not true,” he said.

“Every city in the UK has flashpoints, challenges, and you need to give yourself space and time to work through them,” he said.

“We are more than one flashpoint, we are more than one moment in time, we are more than our challenges – we are also our opportunities.”

Gulzar said being a City of Culture secured funding to allow a £6m refurbishment of the National Science and Media Museum.

It reopened this week after 18 months and is holding an exhibition of a selection of Hockney’s video and photographic works. Meanwhile, a Hockney-inspired drawing project will run throughout the year.

Other highlights include a tribute to Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar, a season of films about working-class northern women, the installation of a new 15m (50ft) statue in the city centre, and Ethiopian photographer Ada Malunya’s stunning Includes the display of realistic images. .

The exhibition will then travel to Cardiff, Belfast and Glasgow, the first time a City of Culture event has traveled to all four UK countries.

Gulzar said winning the City of Culture title also helped attract a new Brit school that has trained stars including Adele and Tom Holland. It is expected to open in 2027.

However, the title hasn’t worked its magic on everything in Bradford’s cultural scene.

The former Bradford Odeon, the site of Friday’s launch event, was due to reopen as a music venue for the City of Culture year after a £50m refurbishment.

But NEC Group pulled out of running it last year, leaving it empty and the council looking for a new operator.

The former cities of culture – Londonderry, Hull and Coventry – saw increased attention and investment during their tenure, but after their years were over there were mixed results and mixed feelings about the scheme’s lasting impact. .

• The Brontë sisters. – Emily, Charlotte and Ann lived at Haworth in the Bradford district.
• Frederick Delius – The composer was born in Bradford in 1862.
• JB Presley – The playwright wrote his most famous play An Inspector Calls in 1945.
• David Hockney. – Britain’s greatest living artist was born in the city and studied at the Bradford School of Art in the 1950s.
• Andrea Dunbar – Playwright best known for 1982’s Rita, Sue and Bob Two.

And five current cultural heroes:

• Zain Malik – One Direction heartthrob Bradford is the 2025 ambassador.
• Bad Boy Chiller Crew – The bassline rap trio was nominated for a Brit Award for Best Group in 2023.
• New Archives – The jungle music producer was nominated for a Mercury Prize last year.
• Zoe Thorogood – The graphic artist was nominated for five Eisner Awards, the “Comic Book Oscar” in 2023.
• A. A. Dhand – A crime novelist’s books about detective Harry Vardy are being turned into a major BBC One drama.

Additional reporting by David Silato.