Yasper supports trio of Bradford cultural projects

Leeds-based PR agency Yasper has been appointed to provide media relations support for a trio of creative and community projects in Bradford, the 2025 City of Culture.

The work has already seen the agency generate regional and national awareness of the inaugural Leeds Road festival, which organisers estimated attracted 25,000 visitors over three days. Yasper’s role was focused on developing a comms strategy, which resulted in opinion-based features, broadcast coverage and photography in The Times.

Saleem Ahktar, Festival co-founder and owner of Jinnah restaurants said: “Celebrating this amazing part of the city has been a project we’ve been developing over a number of years. Yasper’s support in helping to both generate interest and recognise our funders has been fantastic and undoubtedly contributed towards a highly successful first event.”

Yasper has also been appointed by Bradford-based arts organisation, The Leap, to promote the installation of its community co-designed eco-sculpture, ‘The Big Hug’. The agency will be providing media relations expertise and supporting The Leap team to unveil the work and promote it to a wide audience.

In addition, Yasper has been brought on board to support Bradford South Asian Festival, alongside festival co-organiser Aisha Khan. The festival is a female led cultural and creative organisation, which has been developing a wider presence over several years after starting as a tiny volunteer collective of like-minded individuals. Yasper has been tasked with supporting the team in this crucial year of culture, and at a time when the festival is also developing and growing.

Julian Pearce, founder and MD of Yasper said: “Working on these three projects has not only been fantastic, but also immensely fulfilling. I personally love cultural comms, and in particular seeing how different communities interact with and respond to the arts. This is an area of developing interest for the business, and we’re already working on a number of other interesting opportunities in the civic and cultural space and providing support on how culture can act as a driving force for regeneration.”

Yasper celebrates its two-year anniversary in October, having been founded in 2023. Since then, the business has worked across a number of sectors and territories, supporting clients including First Bus, Impact Hub Yorkshire and Market Curators on a range of projects.