Instinctively
private city has nothing to lose but its monkish habits
Many of Oxford's great children's writers, from Lewis Carroll thorough
C S Lewis to Philip Pullman, have secret doors leading from mundane to
magical worlds. Why might this be?
Or to put it another way: where is Oxford's great cathedral? Well, it's
lovely, but it's at the back of a college you have to pay to get into.
By contrast, Liverpool has two easily accessible, public cathedrals. When
both Oxford and Liverpool were short-listed for the European Capital of
Culture in 2008, which city has banners everywhere promoting it and shop
assistants talking about it animatedly, well before the 'winner' was announced?
Or compared to other European Capitals of Culture—or even small
continental European towns—where are Oxford's piazzas and public
squares? Did you say Bonn Square, or that attractively redeveloped area
with a six-lane highway opposite the Saïd Business School, or Cornmarket?
From St Frideswide onwards, monastic institutions have shaped Oxford,
and those monks' habits are still showing. Oxford is full of beautiful
colleges built like monasteries: they face inwards to lovely quads and
private gardens. (The Saïd Business School is an interesting exception,
built with a welcoming open-looking front entrance wall).
Even Oxford University Press only put a discreet sign up on its building
for the first time in is quincentenary year. This instinctive privacy
affects 'town' as well as 'gown'. Some of the best things in Oxford are
hidden away: the Covered Market; the walk along Mesopotamia; The Spin
jazz club above The Wheatsheaf in a tiny alley off the High Street; the
Pitt Rivers Museum. I've lived in Oxford for 29 years and I love the fact
that I'm still discovering new nooks and crannies all the time.
But what if you don't already know what's going on, or you live outside
town, or on the 'other' side of Magdalen Bridge and feel excluded from
either city-centre or East Oxford cultural activities that seem to be
for those 'in the know' and on the right mailing lists?
There are great concerts, plays, exhibitions, etc. going on all the time
all over Oxford but not enough people hear about them or get to participate.
Local media such as The Oxford Times do a good job in publicising
such events, but there's not much information about them in Oxford's public
spaces, and mailing lists preach to the converted.
There are, however, wonderful inclusive events such as the Millennium
one in South Park organised by produced with OOMF!; or Music in the Parks;
or Oxfordshire Artweeks, where artists all over the county open their
studios to allcomers; or schools activities run by Pegasus Theatre, the
Literary Festival, or Modern Art Oxford, amongst others. Excellence doesn't
have to mean exclusivity.
We have a great opportunity to do more in this Evolving
City year, and also in the build-up to a year of countywide public
festivals in 2007.
We have nothing to lose but our old monkish habits.
David Attwooll
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