Experience Oxfordshire and John Lewis & Partners host celebration of 40 Years of Oxfordshire Artweeks

Following on from last year’s successful Inspirational Oxfordshire arts and culture campaign, Experience Oxfordshire, the Destination Management Organisation (DMO) for Oxfordshire, invited businesses from across Oxfordshire’s visitor economy to join the county’s arts and cultural practitioners at Oxford John Lewis & Partners in Westgate Oxford on 5th May, to celebrate 40 wonderful years of Oxfordshire Artweeks.

The event, hosted by Experience Oxfordshire Premium Partner, John Lewis & Partners, offered the ideal opportunity to preview works from thirty local artists and craftspeople in six spaces throughout the store. Esther Lafferty, Executive Director of Oxfordshire Artweeks, updated the audience on some of the events taking place across the county from 7th to 29th May 2022.

Experience Oxfordshire’s CEO, Hayley Beer-Gamage said: “Our networking events are great opportunities to catch up with colleagues and other Experience Oxfordshire partners, alongside making new business connections.  We were particularly delighted to hold our Spring event here in Oxford John Lewis & Partners at the beginning of Oxfordshire Artweeks. 

Our research shows that potential visitors associate Oxfordshire with arts and culture and national research indicates that shopping is a key driver of visitation.  Combining these two experiences can produce a really strong motivation for visiting the County.  We look forward to supporting more such creative collaborations as the outlook for tourism in the UK improves.”

Danny Boreham-Fish, Branch Manager at Oxford John Lewis said: “We were delighted to host the Experience Oxfordshire Spring Networking event and to be part of Oxfordshire Artweeks 2022. By displaying such an outstanding selection of sculpture, furniture, ceramics, glass art and jewellery throughout our store, we hope to provide a context for the works which would not normally exist within a gallery.”

Esther Lafferty, Executive Director of Oxfordshire Artweeks said: “Thank you to John Lewis for this great opportunity to showcase this year’s Oxfordshire Artweeks, in its 40th Anniversary year.  We’re delighted to be adding to the Westgate Oxford experience with top quality art and craft, all of which has been made locally, and to have had this chance, through Experience
Oxfordshire, to offer local businesses and organisations a preview ahead of the festival which runs from 7th to 29th May”.

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IMAGES:

Available via the following link.

  • Image 1 – Danny Boreham-Fish from Oxford John Lewis & Partners, Frank Smith from Experience Oxfordshire, and Esther Lafferty from Oxfordshire Artweeks
  • Image 2 – Frank Smith from Experience Oxfordshire
  • Image 3 – Oxfordshire Artweeks 40th Anniversary showcase in Oxford John Lewis & Partners
  • Image 4 – Piotr Gargas, stone sculptor; Frank Smith from Experience Oxfordshire; Martin Cash, sculptor; and Danny Boreham-Fish from Oxford John Lewis & Partners
  • Image 5 – Brendan Hattam from Westgate Oxford, Frank Smith from Experience Oxfordshire, and Clare Martin from Westgate Oxford

NOTES TO THE EDITOR:

Oxfordshire Artweeks is the UK’s oldest and biggest artist open studios & pop-up exhibition event. Running from 7th-29th May 2022, visitors can view a wide range of creative activity by hundreds of artists, makers and designers in artists’ studios, pop-up galleries, gardens, churches, medieval tithe barns and other venues. Works range from painting, photography, textiles, sculpture and ceramics through to woodworking, glass art, mosaics and jewellery alongside contemporary installations and multidisciplinary practice.
Week 1 7th-15th May 2022 studios open across Oxford
Week 2 14th-22nd May 2022 studios open in South Oxfordshire
Week 3 21st-29th May 2022 studios open North Oxfordshire
See full details here.
All venues are drop-in, free to visit and have committed to be Covid-secure.
Opening hours are generally 1100-1800 but can vary (confirm the times for individual venues before travelling).

Located in the heart of Oxford within the Westgate Oxford prestigious shopping and leisure destination, John Lewis & Partners is a brand of high-end department store offering three floors of the best in fashion, beauty, home, giftware, technology and electrical items. Experts on Hand, offer help and advice in choosing the perfect product for you and can be booked by calling the Experience Desk on 01865 268313.

Experience Oxfordshire is the official Destination Management Organisation (DMO) for Oxfordshire. We are the trading arm of the parent charity, Experience Oxfordshire Charitable Trust, and are a not-for-profit partnership organisation that is committed to the promotion, management, and development of Oxfordshire as a great destination to live, work, visit and do business whilst improving growth and productivity across the visitor economy. The DMO provides essential business advice and support to visitor economy businesses across Oxfordshire.

For more information on Experience Oxfordshire go to www.experienceoxfordshire.org/partner

Contact:
Name: Lesley Wright
Email: press@experienceoxfordshire.org
Call: 01865 686433