Escape Room Challenge with Bradford 2025
A creative journey into playful design, problem-solving and future careers
An exciting 3 days in Bradford, where we delivered an Escape Room Challenge in collaboration with Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture. Working with an energetic and imaginative group of young people, we explored the world of escape rooms, from how they're designed to how they engage players through stories, puzzles, and creative thinking.
Participants tested and analysed a variety of escape-style challenges, before stepping into the role of designers themselves. Using locks, codes, walkie-talkies, tasks and clues, they developed and refined their own games, combining teamwork with hands-on experimentation.
By the end of the project, a team of Bradford 2025 apprentices were ‘locked in’ and put to the test – trying to escape using the games designed by the young people!
This experience offered more than just fun. It was a deep dive into creative problem-solving, linked to real-world skills and careers in the arts, design, and digital sectors.
Over the three days, young people worked towards their Discover Arts Award by exploring a wide range of creative activities and reflecting on their experiences.
Discover Arts Award Part A: Participate
Participants took part in hands-on arts activities including designing escape room puzzles, experimenting with clues and props, and using pen and paper to sketch out and refine their ideas. They also got stuck into breakout activities like mask-making and creating animated dancing characters using digital software. A worksheet helped them make note of the many design skills they were exploring along the way, and identify creative professionals who use the same design skills.
Discover Arts Award Part B: Research
The group met and worked alongside a professional exhibition designer who supported them throughout the week, sharing insights into her role and creative career. They also learned about Harry Houdini, the legendary escape artist, linking their design work to performance history and showmanship. The Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture team also introduced the group to the kind of work they do when designing and managing large-scale creative projects.
Discover Arts Award Part C: Share
At the end of the project, the participants shared their final escape room designs with the Bradford 2025 apprentices, who experienced the escape challenges first-hand. The participants also reflected on their learning through a creative bingo game, recording audio reviews, and completing a self-assessment scale, highlighting new skills they had developed and the confidence they had gained.
By embedding the Arts Award into the Escape Room Challenge, we created space for reflection, skill-building, and creative growth – all while having a lot of fun. The Escape Room Challenge is a great example of how playful design can be a powerful entry point into learning, collaboration, and future opportunities.
