News

We are delighted to announce that Oxford Festival of the Arts is embracing “Disappearance of Worlds”, an exhibition by Chantal Meza – a Mexican painter living and working in the UK, whose work for the past decade has confronted the violence, terror, and the complexities of disappearance in both a human and ecological context – within this year’s edition of the festival. This project is collaboration with Pembroke JCR Art; Pembroke College Oxford, University of Oxford; Read more…

We are proud to present Songs of Bulbul, a captivating new dance performance by Aakash Odedra inspired by the ancient Sufi myth of a caged songbird, in collaboration with the Oxford Playhouse. Featuring choreography by Rani Khanam and music by Rushil Ranjan, this exquisite performance is an immersive dialogue between the intense physicality of Kathak and the spiritual journey of Sufism, merging music, dance, and poetry traditions, renowned for precise rhythm and storytelling. Nightingales, or ‘bulbuls’, hold a special Read more…

Oxford Festival of the Arts is pleased to announce an open call for photographic works on the theme “What is your Oxford?”. “What is your Oxford?” will be an exhibition at Pembroke College Art Gallery curated from chosen photographs received in answer to the brief. We are asking for still photos that capture what our city means, or is, to you, or as seen through your eyes. Stills can be abstract, figurative, or -scape.  They Read more…

We are delighted to unveil the theme for Oxford Festival of the Arts 2024.  With the wonderful restoration work on the nine muses on the top of Clarendon Building on Broad Street, it seems a most opportune moment for the festival of the city to celebrate this iconic building within Oxford in its programming through the concept of a “muse”, or indeed, the nine muses. Expect to be tantalised and inspired by the muses; and Read more…

Inspired by the eleven panel mosaic representing mythological scenes associating Bacchus/Dionysius with the nine muses, the festival is delighted to be presenting wine and absinthe tastings in this year’s programme. The mosaic is possibly the work of an African itinerant mosaicist in the late Roman period.  It was discovered in 1947 by a team from Florence in the Roman Villa of Torre de Palma in southern Portugal and is now housed at the National Museum Read more…

With the wonderful restoration work on the nine muses (originally lead statues, the work of Sir James Thornhill) on the top of Clarendon Building (architect: Nicholas Hawksmoor, a student of Christopher Wren) on Broad Street, it seems a most opportune moment for the festival of the city to celebrate this iconic building within Oxford, symbolically in its programming through the concept of a “muse”, or indeed, the nine muses, by inviting artists and creatives to Read more…

It was a pleasure to host a mini version of the Oxford Indie Book Fair at this year’s OFA Family Day, which fitted so aptly with our theme of People Stories Histories. We’re delighted to be supporting OXIB again this month for their fourth annual book fair on Sunday 26th November at the Oxford Examination Schools, OX1 4BG from 11am – 4.30pm. Entry is free. There’s lots on offer for book lovers of all ages; over Read more…