Daily Info's recommended events for the week ahead, Thursday 11th December - Wednesday 17th December
In your inbox every Thursday. Subscribe here.
Exhibitions to broaden the mind, wine tastings to expand the palate, and gigs to open your ears - happy EP day!
Yuletide festivities continue on apace! This week brings festivals both in the city centre and further afield - pun intended in the case of Hogshaw Farm, where Santa’s elves have been setting up shop! Explore an Alpine village, feed real reindeer, decorate gingerbread and maybe even pay a visit to the big man himself (if you’ve been nice!).
For Cherwell Collective, sustainability is the word of the day at No Waste Noel, their eco Christmas market showcasing all things recycled, upcycled and repaired; and on Christ Church’s grounds , follow a trail of individually decorated Christmas trees to discover the college’s fascinating history with their Christmas Tree Festival. And if nothing says Christmas to you like a hearty brew, Tap Social’s Xmas Beer Bash is on hand with four guest breweries serving cups of good cheer - and pizza to boot!
It wouldn’t be the holidays without a bit of song and dance; Family Ceilidh Oxford offers a merry jig down at Cutteslowe Park, alongside mince pies and mulled cider. The dulcet tones of OUP’s choir lend themselves to some carolling favourites for their 40th anniversary, as well as a rendition of Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia; and Keble College Chapel will be filled with some glorious harmonies as the Oxford Pro Musica singers perform a repertoire of choral classics from ages past.
Christmas at the Farm: Hogshaw Farm, Sat 13th & Sun 14th Dec and Fri 19th - Wed 24th Dec. Tickets from £17.50.
No Waste Noel: Exeter Hall, Kidlington, Sat 13th Dec, 11am - 2pm. Free entry.
Christ Church Christmas Tree Festival: Christ Church College, daily until Sat 3rd Jan, 10am - 5pm (2pm start Sundays). Tickets £18.50 - £20.
Tap Social Xmas Beer Bash: Tap Social Movement, Sat 13th Dec, 2pm - 11pm. Tickets £10.
Family Christmas Ceilidh: Cutteslowe Park Pavillion, Sat 13 Dec, 10:30am - 12pm. Tickets: Adults £6, Children £4, Under 2s free.
OUP Choir 40th Anniversary Christmas Concert : St Michael and All Angels, Summertown, Sat 13th Dec, 7:30pm. Tickets £15 (under 18s free)
Oxford Pro Musica - A Christmas Cracker: Keble College Chapel, Sun 14th Dec, 5pm. Tickets £8 - 28.
Dickens has nothing on us, as we offer you the artists of past, present and future this week, in an attempt to persuade you to honour Art and observe it all year.
Starting long ago, take a trip to the hidden gem that is Christ Church Picture Gallery, for an exploration of chalk and charcoal in Renaissance and Baroque drawings. It’s entitled It’s not just black and white , and the shading and mark-making are astonishingly subtle. The gallery is only too pleased to have an excuse to display some of its collection of drawings by Leonardo, Bronzino, Sodoma, Tintoretto, Carracci, Filippi, and many other artists of the time.
Sara Sallam is already a time traveller, bridging funerary practices from 600-300BCE with modern understanding of the violence of tombraiding and the problematic origins of many museum collections. In Suturing Wounds she literally sews back together facsimiles of many scraps of funerary garments, making whole garments which simultaneously repair the cloth and highlight its fragmentation. Her work is presented as a photographic display of the resulting tunic worn by Sallam herself. This work formed part of Photo Oxford, but we’re lucky this exhibition goes on until the end of January.
Every year Modern Art Oxford look to the future generation of artists, with their Platform Graduate Award, supporting artists in their first year after graduation when financial pressures force many artists away from their practice. This year’s exhibition This Is Really Happening features Sofia Pantsjoha (University of Reading), Ella Soni (Ruskin School of Art), and Brontè Wyse (Oxford Brookes). Pantsjoha looks at the lifespan of trees, their timescale and their life cycle from sapling to wood or paper, while Wyse turns to rodents, in an installation questioning surveillance and the Panopticon. Soni’s work utilises scrap materials in collages and sculpture centring symbols of stardom and the humble cornershop as a space of infinite possibility.
It’s Not Just Black And White: Christ Church Picture Gallery, until Thu 26th March, Mon & Wed to Sat 11am - 5pm, Sundays 2-5pm. Tickets: £6 (£3 concessions, free for alumni, Art Fund, etc.).
Suturing Wounds: Pitt Rivers Museum, until Sun 25th Jan, daily 10am - 5pm (from 2pm Mondays). Entry: free.
This Is Really Happening: Modern Art Oxford, until Sun 18th Jan, 11am - 6pm Mon - Sat (till 4pm Sundays). Entry: free.
Of course, you might want a break from sleigh bells, carols and the ever looming threat of Whamaggedon. Well, Whiplash has the cure with their ‘I Miss Halloween’ special, curating another in-your-face trio of alternative acts to get under your skin. Bristol based emoviolence outlet Cainhurst join forces with the guttural rage of Dead Name, and Oxford’s own ‘shemogaze’ songsters, Aftercare. Face masks and pre show testing for COVID-19 is strongly encouraged - free masks and LFTs are on offer at the door.
Want your sound a little more metallic? Your answer awaits you at the Jericho Tavern, where Moshville Radio’s 2025 Xmas Party gives you four heavy acts to bang your head to. Headlined by Rats Eat Rats with a high octane combo of old and nu metal influences, we expect face-melting solos and fiery riffs.
And last but not least, it’s a community affair at the Bullingdon as In A Different Place 2025 brings together some of Oxford’s most in-demand bands and artists for an all-day celebration of local music. With appearances from Tiger Mendoza, The Balkan Wanderers, Octavia Freud and many, many more, it’s a pick and mix of whatever genre takes your fancy. You want soft lyrical ballads, trippy electronica, and post-dubstep experimentation all in one spot? Come to the Cowley Road.
Whiplash - Cainhurst, Dead Name, Aftercare: The Nest, Sat 13th Dec, 7:30pm. Tickets £5 - 15.
Moshville Radio’s Xmas Party 2025: The Jericho Tavern, Sat 13th, 7:00pm. Tickets £13.25 (advance).
In A Different Place 2025: The Bullingdon, Sun 14th Dec, 1:30pm. Tickets from £19.30.
Pickles go with everything! That’s what Cranston are proving in Pickled Supper Club, hosted by Tap Social in their Kennington Bakehouse. All four courses will contain a pickle, chutney or jam, alongside locally-sourced seasonal ingredients. Start with complimentary fizz, and learn how to use pickles to their best, even to convert the pickle-phobic. (If you’re veggie, let Cranston know in advance, and they apologise but they can’t cater for other diets at this particular pop-up.) Ticket prices include all food. BYOB (£5 corkage) or pre-order Tap beers with your ticket.
Most of us who are too old to open a stocking over the holidays will open a bottle, and Popina by Lynrace are offering to widen your wine horizons, with some options you might not have come across. Matthew Whitaker from Woodthorpe Wines will suggest wines that go with turkey, digestifs, or even Christmas morning bubbly! There might even be an alternative to Santa’s sherry…
If you want to delve deep into the fizz (spotting the theme this week?) try the Sparkling Wine Masterclass next week with East Oxford Wine Society, who meet at Jojo’s. Do you know your prosecco from your petillant? In this session you can try Cava, Prosecco, Champagne, English sparkling wine, and Cremant wines all together, to see how the different techniques affect the taste, and finish with a blind tasting to see how well you’ve trained your tastebuds! Jojo invite you to stay afterwards for the live jazz.
Discover more wonderful food shops and shopkeepers of Cowley Road! American foodie Chapman leads you less than a kilometre, but in vibrant, cosmopolitan Cowley Road you can find ingredients from Ghana, Morocco, Lebanon, Turkey, Italy, Lithuania, Russia, Korea, Thailand, Bangladesh and Brazil. Focussing on 17 shops, you might find new tastes and old stories, as you hear about how Cowley Road (as we know and love it) came to be. We think this would make a great present for a beloved gourmand, and tours are monthly if 3rd Jan is too soon.
Pop-Up Pickled Supperclub: Proof Social Bakehouse (Sandford Lane Industrial Estate, Kennington), Fri 12th Dec, 6.30 - 9.30pm. Tickets: £45.
Popina's Festive Sips: Popina By Lynrace (Walton Street), Wed 17th Dec, 7-9pm. Tickets: £20.
East Oxford Wine Society Sparkling Wine Masterclass: Jojo’s Bar, Thu 18th Dec, 6:30pm. Tickets £25.
Cowley Road International Food Tour: meet at The Plain, Sat 3rd Jan, 11am - 1pm (and monthly). Tickets: £13 (concessions £6.50).
As winter costs continue to rise, our friends at Oxford Mutual Aid have been overwhelmed with demand for their services providing emergency parcels to households in need. Last month, the team received 300 requests for more than 750 people, levels not seen since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To cope with the surge in demand, OMA is aiming to raise £5000 by Christmas to continue their essential work and expand their operation. Support the team by donating to their crowdfunder and share far and wide to spread the word!
Image credits: Cherwell Collective, Sara Sallam (Photo Oxford), Cainhurst, Popina by Lynrace, Oxford Mutual Aid
