Creative Industries Festival 2024

Power and Change

23 - 26 April 2024

In a year that will be dominated by election campaigning on both sides of the Atlantic, at a time when technological advances are raising existential questions, we're exploring the dynamic interplay between hierarchies of influence, dominant discourses and structures, and forces of disruption and transformation within the creative industries. Hosted by the Creative Industries Research and Innovation Network at Oxford Brookes University, this annual festival proves an exceptional platform for showcasing unique perspectives, innovative projects and ground-breaking ideas for positive change. It offers engagement with local communities, global exposure, networking opportunities and the chance to shape the future direction of work in the field.

We welcome artists, educators, entrepreneurs, researchers, policy-makers/advocates and everyone with a passion for creativity! We will be looking to host interactive workshops, panel discussions, exhibitions, installations, performances, showcases, screenings, community engagement events and more.

For more details and to get involved, please email creativeindustries@brookes.ac.uk and follow us on social media: @CreativeIndsOBU).

Join us in harnessing the collective energy of creative minds, uncovering new collaboration ideas and celebrating our creative communities.

Day one: Creativity in Technology and Performance

Art, Technology, Entrepreneurship: A fusion of work, play, well-being and more!

Discussion: 

Date: 23 April 2024
Time: 13:00-14:00
Location: Headington Hill Hall

Exhibition:

Date: 23 – 26 April 2024
Location: Lab / Atrium, Abercrombie Building

In this varied exhibition and its accompanying discussion, we celebrate Oxford Brookes creativity at the intriguing intersection of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics (STEAM). Panellists include Alex Goody (Literature & Culture), Eric White (Literature), Paul Kilsby (Fine Art) and Eleni Elia (Statistics).

Art gallery with photo exhibition and digital screen

Navigating Power and Change in the Digital Age: A Digital Humanities Taster Session

Date: 23 April 2024
Time: 14:00-15:00
Location: Headington Hill Hall

An interactive session on technologically shaped and innovative changes to the arts and humanities in Higher Education, sponsored by the Centre of Research in the Arts. With Professor Daniela Treveri Gennari, Professor Alex Goody, Dr Warren Buckland, Dr Selin Nugent and Dr Antonia Mackay (Oxford Brookes University).

A mosaic pattern

What Fighting Can Teach Us: Stunt Performance in the British Media

Date: 23 April 2024
Time: 15:00-16:00
Location: Headington Hill Hall

Pull back the curtain on stunt work and see what’s involved in training to be a stunt performer in the UK, while learning some cinematic moves! Delivered by Dr Lindsay Steenberg (Oxford Brookes) who has been researching, interviewing, and training with stunt performers for the past year.

A hand holding a sword

Real World Inspiration - A performance and discussion with poet, singer and entertainer Neil Patterson

Date: 23 April 2024
Time: 18:00-19:00
Location: John Henry Brookes – Lecture Theatre

A multi-talented entertainer with experience across music, theatre, television and more, Neil Patterson will mesmerise you with his rich timbre and interesting stories!

Neil Patterson

Sounds of Salvador: community Samba Reggae comes to Oxford Brookes!

Date: 23 April 2024
Time: 19:00-20:00
Location: John Henry Brookes – Lecture Theatre

Come and experience samba reggae, the music at the heart of social and cultural life in Salvador, Brazil! Brought to you by Sol Samba, one of Oxford's longest-running community bands.

Sol Samba logo

Photography Exhibition: Beirut Encounters

Date: 23 – 25 April 2024
Location: John Henry Brookes - Executive Suite

Explore how Beirut’s residents relax on the Corniche, the uncanny colours of the Luna Park as well as how the city renders visible the changes wrought by catastrophe, war and financial crisis with photography by Claire Launchbury, an Oxford Brookes artist and scholar working on how memory and the archive operate. Sponsored by the Centre of Research in the Arts.

Photography Exhibition: Beirut Encounters

Day two: Diversity, Representation and Cultural Business

Fashion, film, and organisation studies: a conversation with Dr Yuniya Kawamura and Frédéric Tcheng

Date: 24 April 2024
Time: 13:00-14:00
Location: John Henry Brookes – JHB206

Learn how fashion documentaries are conceived as we reflect on their significance as tools for gaining academic insight into their often insular, almost mythical business and organisational worlds. Featuring acclaimed filmmaker Frédéric Tcheng, Professor of Sociology at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, Dr Yuniya Kawamura, and Mitaali Katoch, Oxford Brookes Business School.

Colourful clothing articles in a shop

Diversifying Oxfordshire Audiences for Culture

Date: 24 April 2024
Time: 14:00-16:00
Location: John Henry Brookes – Executive Suite

An inspiring roundtable discussion with local cultural organisations on programmes of activities, supported by Brookes and aimed at improving the diversity of their audiences. With Tatenda Jamera (Maona Art), Mita Vaghela (OVADA), Bryony McCraw (Barton Park Primary School), Chris Paul (Pegasus Theatre), Faisal Hussain (True Form Project), Geron Swann (Film Oxford) and Hanna Klien-Thomas (Oxford Brookes).

Pop up shop

A table reading of the upcoming play Three M'others

Date: 24 April 2024
Time: 17:00-18:00
Location: John Henry Brookes – Lecture Theatre

A compelling story by Antonia Mackay (Oxford Brookes), based on her research into motherhood during the pandemic and the digitisation of maternal healthcare.

Artwork depicting a mother holding a baby

Decolonising the Archive: Power and Change in the Cultural Heritage Sector

Date: 24 April 2024
Time: 18:00-19:00
Location: John Henry Brookes – Lecture Theatre

Join us for this Creative Industries open lecture, delivered by artist Faisal Hussain (True Form Projects).

Faisal Hussain

Day three: Active Citizenship and Working with Communities

Citizenship and Activism: campaigning skills workshop with Tampon Tax campaigner Laura Coryton

Date: 25 April 2024
Time: 11:00-12:00
Location: John Henry Brookes – Room 302

An interactive session for those who see inequalities like sexism, racism and other prejudices and want to know what they can do about it. Join Tampon Tax Campaigner Laura Coryton and Dr Michele Paule, Reader in Gender, Media and Audiences at Oxford Brookes. 

People in a community centre

Visual Futures: Power, Change, Identity, Representation & Persuasion

Date: 25 April 2024
Time: 14:00-15:00
Location: John Henry Brookes – Room 308

Learn about emergent trends for the future of media, technology, storytelling, world building and meaning making with Commercial Semiotician Dr Bridget Dalton

Dr Bridget Dalton

Oxford African Caribbean Histories on Screen - in conversation with Reuel-Eli James

Date: 25 April 2024
Time: 17:00-18:30
Location: John Henry Brookes Lecture Theatre

Screening of ‘Spaces We Made Our Own’ and discussion with creative lead Reuel-Eli James on film as a vital tool for telling and celebrating Oxford’s African Caribbean (hi)stories.

This session explores film as a vital tool for telling and celebrating Oxford’s African Caribbean (hi)stories. As the creative lead of ‘Spaces We Made Our Own’, Reuel-Eli James reflects on the experience of making the short film about experiences of ‘going out’ in Oxford in the 1960s and 70s, working with an intergenerational group on the iCreative programme at Film Oxford. Join the screening and conversation with the filmmaker to find out about the significance of community-led initiatives in archiving, the role of collaborations and film as living engagement with heritage.

A 1960's African Caribbean Jazz band
Image credit: Oxford African Caribbean Histories Archive (oachca09@gmail.com)

Day four: The Power of Storytellers

Surreal Queer Utopias

Date: 26 April 2024

Time: 12:00-13:00

Location: Online

Fine artist Simon Foxall reflects on the ways queer artists disrupt the status quo, surrealism, reimagining society and its power relations.

A person painting an abstract colourful painting on a white canvas

An ABC of the poetry pamphlet: adventure, beauty, challenge

Date: 26 April 2024
Time: 14:00-15:00
Location: Online

Join a stimulating panel discussion on the value of the thriving shorter form of poetry publishing - the pamphlet! Chaired by Niall Munro and Claire Cox, two of the co-founders of Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre's ignitionpress, in conversation with Kym Deyn (they/she), an award-winning writer, founder, director and editor of The Braag CIC. 

ignitionpress logo

Visual Arts Exploring the Woods Metaphor and the Suppression of the Female Voice in the Digital World

Date: 26 April 2024
Time: 15:00-16:00
Location: Online

Scholar and artist India Lawton (Southampton Solent University) delves into the metaphorical "woods of experience" within the digital realm, revealing traditional anxieties, dark recesses, and modern-day trolls reminiscent of fairy tales. A session sponsored by the Centre of Research in the Arts.

India Lawton

Celebrity Culture Club presents: Screenwriting, Striking and Celebrity Culture

Date: 26 April 2024
Time: 16:00-17:00
Location: Online

Explore the relationship between screenwriting and celebrity culture, including what the SAG-AFTRA writers strikes can tell us about power and change in the entertainment industry. A discussion led by journalist Jack Royston with writer and script coordinator Etan Marciano and WGA Award winning, Emmy nominated playwright and television writer Janine Nabers.

Stills from movies and TV series 'Atlanta', 'Swarm' and 'From'

‘East in West’ Vinyl Pop Up Museum

Date: 26 April 2024
Time: 5pm-9pm
Location: OVADA, Oxford.

True Form Projects is launching an exclusive pop-up record store exhibition at OVADA for a limited time only. The museum will feature records and visual materials from one of the UK’s largest archives of South Asian popular culture. You are invited to immerse yourself in this vibrant collection of vinyl records, posters and much more. There will also be a screening of a film about the archive, ‘Request Line’ which was exhibited in Manchester Museum last year. This exhibition is part of a series of events supported by CIRIN with the aim of helping to diversify cultural audiences in Oxfordshire.

East in West pop up shop in Oxford