Conversation meals aim to get the whole city talking

Monday 24 April, 2006

When a festival or carnival is held in Venice, the citizens of the city each put on a mask. This year, the people of Oxford will be asked to do the opposite.

Oxford Unmasked is a project led by cultural development agency Oxford Inspires, which invites people to show their real selves. A series of "conversation meals" are to be held where items on the menu are talk topics rather than food, and where individuals from Oxford’s diverse communities have the chance to get beyond superficial chat, exchanging experiences and thoughts with people they would not normally meet, about who they really are and how they see the world.

Oxford Unmasked is part of Oxfordshire 2007, a year of festivals and special events celebrating 1000 years of Oxfordshire, which is being coordinated by Oxford Inspires. Three conversation meals are planned for June, August and October in 2006—and the conversation will continue to flow into 2007 culminating in a giant conversation picnic planned in a public park.

The project is the brainchild of the Oxford Muse and will be sponsored by BMW Group Plant Oxford.

This year's conversational meals are based on one to one contact: representatives from a wide range of community organisations, local government, public services, educational institutions, local businesses and faith groups will be seated in pairs and 'unmask' themselves by discussing such topics as friendship, community, family, compassion and curiosity. Organiser Roman Krznaric, from the Oxford Muse, says: "The Menu of Conversation provides a creative approach to building community trust and mutual understanding in the city."

Alexandra Brooks, corporate communications manager, BMW Group Plant Oxford said: "As one of Oxford's major companies, we employ a wide range of people from diverse communities, so we are delighted to be sponsoring new ways of bringing people together within the city."

The Oxford Muse was established by historian and broadcaster Theodore Zeldin to inspire invention and courage in personal, professional and cultural life. The Oxford Muse has previously held successful conversational meals at the World Economic Forum in Davos, with community leaders and public officials in Leeds and with youth groups in Rwanda.

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