The Bradford African Festival of Arts (BAFA), which celebrated African heritage and creativity, ran over four days from last Wednesday (August 13) to Saturday and was hosted by the University of Bradford in collaboration with the city’s wider African community, and contributed to the Bradford City of Culture 2025 programme.
The festival showcased the richness of African arts, heritage and talent, and brought together live performances, workshops, exhibitions, film screenings, food and fashion, along with opportunities for dialogue and community connection.
“The feedback has been so positive about the festival that people are already looking forward to it next year,” said festival director Dr Olushola Kolawole (OAK), who founded the event in 2024.
“We expanded it to four days this year after last year’s inaugural festival was held over two days.”
The festival started last Wednesday with an opening ceremony, workshops and a celebration dinner which was attend by three Lord Mayors from Bradford, Kirklees and London.
On Thursday, the festival showcased five screenings of African films at the Bradford National Science and Media Museum.
Live performances of African plays and dramas were performed at the University of Bradford on Friday.
Then on Saturday, 2,000 people flocked to Centenary Square to visit market stalls selling African food and fabrics and watch live performances.
Dr Kolawole also said 3,000 streamed Saturday’s celebrations online.
He said: “Looking ahead to next year, we’d like to call on African communities in Bradford to come and join us.
“Bradford is the place to be for this festival.”
Prior to the event, Dr Kolawole said: “We started it in 2024, and it’s great to see it expanding already.
“We want to bring families together, and share our generational heritage with our children to help them gain a better understanding of their culture and history.
“By doing this, we create a space that protects African heritage.”
Beyond the celebration itself, Dr Kolawole said the festival is part of a broader academic mission to explore how culture can be preserved and sustained.
“Alongside the events, we’re doing a lot of academic research on how a festival like this can be used as a vehicle to protect heritage across the world,” he said.
BAFA is one of many grassroots-led events taking place across the city as part of Bradford’s landmark year as UK City of Culture 2025.
