Christmas Light Festival 2013 Evaluation & Plans for 2014 Ceri Gorton, Oxford City Council

1. Christmas Light Festival • 2013 Evaluation & Plans for 2014 • Ceri Gorton, Oxford City Council • cgorton@oxford.gov.uk www.oxfordschristmas.com

2. Evaluation of 2013 event • Key findings • Safe and successful • 100,000 people attended • Cultural venues saw up to 336% more visitors than on a non-festival weekend • £1.8m economic impact • New website and branding praised by many stakeholders • Doubled sponsorship support, including support from the University of Oxford and Westgate and Clarendon Centres for the first time • No increase in crime or public disorder • Traffic Management Plan and use of Little Clarendon St praised by Police, Fire and Ambulance services. They will recommend its use for all events in St Giles • 84% of those surveyed rated the atmosphere as ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’ • 78% of those surveyed were residents from OX1 to OX5 • 54% of those surveyed had not attended the event before

3. Evaluation of 2013 event • Key findings • Feedback from some stakeholders, including colleges on or near St Giles; • Consultation was insufficient • Criticism of inconvenience caused by road closures, noise levels and “extremely poor quality” stage music. Balliol described as being “marooned – an island in the centre of Oxford” as a result of the event. • Calls for “better consultation with all the colleges as many of our staff were considerably inconvenienced” • Suggestions included holding the event “in a venue away from the city centre” or holding “a short parade on one weekday evening without the tawdry funfair” • Evaluation suggests that changes need to be made to address • Disruption caused by event location and duration of city centre road closures • Effectiveness of consultation with key stakeholders

4. Plans for 2014 • Options for the future of the event were presented to Peter Sloman (Chief Executive, Oxford City Council) and Cllr Bob Price (Leader, Oxford City Council) along with the evaluation. • Cllr Price has asked for the following option to be developed with key stakeholders: • Christmas Light Festival 2014 • 3 day festival • 21-23 November 2014 • Events and activities taking place within cultural partner venues across the city

5. Plans for 2014 • Feedback and Changes • Feedback said • Disruption of road closures unacceptable • Inconvenience caused to St Giles stakeholders unacceptable • Website and branding were good • Involvement of schools good • Cultural venues activity good • Consultation could be improved • Changes we’re making • No road closures in 2014 • No event in St Giles (this also means there can be no lantern parade) • Website will continue • We will run a youth project for the festival • We will continue to partner with cultural venues and offer programming grants • New monthly stakeholder meetings

6. Plans for 2014 • Event details • Festival hub / information point in Gloucester Green • Day of Song to continue on the Sunday • Project with city schools in the months before the event to create light installations to be part of the festival • Festival programme with detailed listings of events • Continued development and use of the www.oxfordschristmas.com website • Retail card to be developed • Christmas Lights to be switched on in time for start of festival, as previous years • Same date so festival can launch Christmas events and shopping in the city

7. Next Steps Monthly stakeholder meetings (open) 2nd Wednesday each month starting 9 April 12-1pm, Town Hall Brief update from project management team about event plans, followed by discussion of ideas, concerns or questions from stakeholders. St Giles stakeholders, residents, councillors, traders all welcome. Programming meetings (invite only – for partner venues) 2nd Wednesday each month starting 9 April 1.30-3pm, venue tbc Discussion of programming plans of cultural partners and opportunities to create activity trails, align timing and identify additional funding. Production of Festival Programme will also be co-ordinated through this group. Mailing lists There will be a mailing list for each of these groups which will be used to share event updates, meeting notes and deadline reminders, e.g. for marketing.