This year’s Christmas Light Festival kick starts the festive season on Friday 21 November with a weekend full of free events in some of Oxford’s best loved venues.
Website details: http://www.oxfordschristmas.com/
Many of the city's best loved venues including its museums, galleries and theatres welcome you to start the festive season with unique late night viewings, exhibitions and inspiring events. And this year we see the return of the popular Lantern Procession which winds through the city on the Friday evening.
From Friday till Sunday, doors will be open for late night events, family workshops, music, art and more. Residents and visitors to the city will be able to work out their weekend itinerary conveniently as Oxford’s Christmas website has now gone live.
Visitors to the website can plan their festive season online at www.oxfordschristmas.com where they will find a calendar of events searchable by type or venue. The can also save all the things that they don’t want to miss to their Itinerary.
Councillor Bob Price, Leader of Oxford City Council, says: ‘The weekend is chock full of great things to do and see. There really is something for everyone. I would encourage people to visit the website to find out what’s on during the Christmas Light Festival and beyond.’
Rachel Capell, the City Council’s Events and International Links Officer, says: ‘Every year community groups and artists come together to inspire and delight us. We are really looking forward to seeing all the plans and preparation come to life and launching the festive season for 2014.’
Gloucester Green will serve as the festival hub, where the City Council will team up with Arts at the Old Fire Station and Oxford Playhouse on Friday to present a series of exciting events. Visitors can expect to sit round the fire to talk, listen to the tunes of DJ Euton Daley or pick something up from the Artistic Takeaway.
Friday will also see the launch of the Young People’s Light Installation at the University Museum’s Lawn. On Saturday, the Street Light pop-up festival kicks off on Magdalen Road, with family-friendly activities hosted in shops, pubs, cafes and other premises.
From 3pm-4pm at Gloucester Green on Sunday, The Knowledge Emporium show will treat audiences to a performance created from stories collected over the weekend. For ticket details, visit www.oxfordschristmas.com .
Also on Sunday, community and school choirs will perform in the Day of Song at various venues across the city before converging for an evening grand finale at the Town Hall. To close the show, the audience will join the choirs in singing carols as well as Day of Song producer Cat Kelly’s commissioned piece, ‘Share Your Light’.
The Christmas Light Festival is an annual event that brings Oxford’s communities together with an exciting programme of art, music, dance and performance. This year, the festival has been supported by Westgate Shopping Centre Oxford and Oxford University Community Fund.
The festival is being co-ordinated by the City Council and Ian Nolan Events on behalf of communities and cultural organisations across the city. Venues in Oxford that are holding cultural events over the festive season can use the Oxford Christmas website’s Event Uploader to promote their activities.
There will be no lantern procession or stage on St Giles’ this year.
