Getting to know the Muslim change-makers of Bradford
As part of Bradford 2025’s Year of Culture, the Horizons Institute worked in collaboration with the Cultural Institute Leeds, the University of Bradford, Bradford Producing Hub, and Bradford 2025 to support three innovative projects, bringing researchers and creative professionals together. One of these, Muslims in the North: A Soundscape of Stories Untold, has seen Dr Maria Hussain, Associate Professor in Management and Organisations collect the stories of Muslim creatives from across the city for a new travelling exhibition.
In a recent interview, Maria shared insights into the inspiration for the project, and some of the challenges her team faced in transforming the initial idea into the final soundscape.
What inspired Muslims in the North?
Muslims in the North is underpinned by my Leeds Institute for Teaching Excellence Fellowship, which looks at the perceived value of cultural diversity, and was originally delivered in Leeds.
Increasingly, we know we need to harness the diversity of thought in relation to the complex challenges that we face. We know that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work.
In the original project we wanted to help students join the dots in relation to what graduate employers are actually looking for and expecting students to be able to do — so being able to communicate work across cultural boundaries, being open to different perspectives, and essentially being able to see the value in difference. Intercultural competence is a key mechanism to enable a more ‘curious mindset’ in enabling and harnessing the value of different perspectives.
Historically, the North is underfunded compared to other parts of the country, and there is definitely a divide. And when you look at minorities or marginalised groups, they’re often seen as the problem — there’s lots of negative stereotypes.
So, I really wanted to address that in a research-underpinned way in relation to Bradford.
With Bradford being City of Culture in 2025, we looked at how we can help put Bradford on the map. It is in the North, part of Yorkshire, and it has a long history and heritage, not just in terms of industry but also in terms of its literary history and legacy. And more recently being the startup capital of the country. It’s also the youngest city as well.
There’s so much untapped potential and opportunity we don’t hear about. We hear about a lot of the negative stuff. So, this was a really good opportunity to showcase that talent in a way that humanises a lot of what we don’t see in the mainstream media, to provide that counter narrative and to really get people curious about Bradford.
How did you make the connections in Bradford to make this possible?
I was looking for people to work with, and the pre-project sandpit event led me to meet one of my collaborators, Alice Gilmour, who’s the sound designer. We hit it off quite quickly and she was able to connect me with a couple of other people.
Buttercrumble, who did the graphics work for us, already collaborated with on the Muslims in the North project and a few other projects. They’re Leeds-based but had connections with Bradford City Library.
It was quite a challenge. I reached out to some people using LinkedIn, and I connected with the University of Bradford and made a few connections there, but they’re going through quite a challenging time at the moment.
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It’s been quite a journey, but I’m really glad that it’s come together now. There’s lots of interest now the output is ready, which is really exciting.
What do you feel like you’ve learnt through this project?
A real and deep appreciation of Bradford as a city.
I’ve visited Bradford many times — going wedding clothes shopping or eating out at restaurants because the halal food scene is great.
But I guess I’ve developed an appreciation of its past, the legacy piece, but also in terms of what’s happening now.
And as a business academic, the entrepreneurial spirit is amazing — it’s the nation’s ‘start-up’ capital after all! So, if you are thinking about setting up your own business, trying something out, seeing how it goes, this is the place to be.
The Bradford community spirit too. Through all of the people I spoke to there was a golden thread around community. People really care, and there was a directness that came through as being quite Yorkshire.
People really value the connections, the relational side of community, and that they see a strength in the diversity of that, which is great. That’s often something we overlook, or perhaps the media doesn’t really showcase very much, so I hope that this small project can help shine a light what’s happening and how people experience Bradford — the people who actually live or work there — which I think is really valuable.
What do you hope to achieve through this project?
I think, in the short term, I want to get people curious about Bradford, about the North, about marginalised communities. And really engaging the public in civic spaces, getting them to be curious, open minded, develop their own intercultural competence and awareness to see what might be possible in the longer term.
I see it as kind of a talking piece, a segue into bigger conversations around addressing racism and Islamophobia, both of which are on the rise globally.
So, I hope that it can feed into the bigger questions that we have today as a society in helping to really counter some of the negatives we often see around kind of scapegoated minoritized communities, and move to actually seeing the value that they bring.
Why should people be curious about Bradford?
Why shouldn’t they be? Bradford has loads of to offer.
Forget what you what you’ve read in the papers or what you’ve seen on the news. Just go and experience it for yourself. There’s something for everyone!
So whether you know you’re a foodie, whether you’re interested in setting up your own startup, you’re going to be spoilt for choice. It’s really affordable. People are friendly, and of course the weather’s great — I’m a Yorkshire woman, so I may be slightly biased…And if you’re a culture buff, there’s some something for everyone. I recently visited the Waterstones over in in Bradford City centre. It’s amazing, and in a Grade 2 listed building. And I only discovered it recently.
There’s so many hidden gems. You know, the old, the new, that fusion. So, you know, there’s definitely something for everyone. And you’re not going to be hugely out of pocket by going there.
It’s well connected, and people are friendly. So just give it a shot. Just jump on the train or a bus, or you can drive across, and check it out.
The Muslims in the North: A Soundscape of Stories Untold visual exhibit is currently touring various sites around the Bradford and Leeds areas. If you’d like to listen to the Muslims in the North soundscape, you can listen to these on Soundcloud.
