Evolving City - some Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is Evolving City?

Evolving City is a year long programme of over 100 projects, events and festivals taking place in and around Oxford. Designed to encourage people to think about how Oxford is changing, and the role of artists, scientists and cultural organisations in shaping the City’s future, Evolving City is structured around five programme strands or themes.

Q. What are the five themes of Evolving City?

Science in the City—a year long programme led by the Oxford Trust, designed to engage the public in thinking and talking about science, and to encourage people to attend science events in the same way they might go the theatre or to a gallery.

Oxford 2015—led by Modern Art Oxford and Oxford Inspires, the events in this theme will create and stimulate a debate about the future of Oxford and the role that artists, designers and local people can take in shaping our streets and squares.

Artists and Communities—this strand of the programme will create new opportunities for local people to participate in cultural projects, and will promote the culture of local communities and the creativity of local people. The projects in this theme are focussed on Blackbird Leys, Rose Hill, Barton, Cowley and East Oxford.

Festivals—Evolving City is funding projects within several established Oxford festivals like Artweeks, the Sunday Times Literary Festival and Cowley Road Carnival. It is also funding the launch of several new festival events including a disability arts season, a youth arts festival and the city’s first ever multi-cultural arts showcase, and provides marketing support to many other festivals in the Oxford calendar.

Oxford and Europe—Oxford has always had strong relationships with Europe. Evolving City has created opportunities for new collaborations between Oxford and its European twinning partners as well as enabling local arts and cultural organisations to develop collaborative music, film, theatre and visual arts projects with partners from the ten EU Accession states.

Q. How is Evolving City funded?

Evolving City is funded by lottery money from the Millennium Commission and Arts Council England through the Urban Cultural Programme (UCP). The organisations that are delivering the Evolving City programme were required to match this funding. Additional contributions have come from Arts Council England, South East, Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire County Council, SEEDA, three theme sponsors and a number of Oxford Inspires’ corporate members.

Q. What is the relationship between Evolving City and Oxford Inspires?

As the cultural development agency for Oxford and Oxfordshire, Oxford Inspires applied on behalf of the city and county for the money to fund Evolving City. It did this by inviting cultural organisations to submit their ideas for the programme and then creating a single bid from those proposals. Oxford Inspires is accountable to the lottery for the funding received, and is also responsible for marketing and promoting the overall Evolving City programme. Oxford Inspires is not responsible for delivering any of the content of Evolving City—all the projects are being delivered by other cultural organisations in the City.

Q. How long does Evolving City last?

The main focus of Evolving City is between March and December 2005 and there are three main Evolving City seasons. March–June sees the launch of the programme, June–September will offer the main festival and 2015 events and September–December will strongly feature Oxford and Europe events. The Artists and Communities and Science in the City strands will run throughout the year, and some Artists and Communities projects will not actually be completed until March 2006.

Q. What happens when Evolving City is over?

It is hoped that a year of festivals and special events celebrating Oxfordshire’s past and present and helping to create its future will be staged across the County in 2007. Oxford Inspires is currently consulting on its plans for a Special year in Oxfordshire in 2007.

Q. Is Evolving City just for Oxford?

No. Evolving City is a programme for the whole County. It is centred on Oxford, because the rules of the lottery funding mean that most of the projects need to take place in the City.

Q. How will you know if Evolving City has been a success?

Independent evaluators will be assessing the degree to which Evolving City has met its own objectives. They will report in the early summer of 2006 on whether the programme has successfully:

• Increased participation in cultural activity
• Encouraged debate about the future of Oxford as a European City
• Employed culture as a way of imagining and transforming Oxford’s public spaces
• Promoted science as a cultural activity
• Celebrated the City’s diverse cultures and developed its festival culture
• Prompted people to re-think the way we think and feel about our City.