Arts at the Old Fire Station is an arts centre in Oxford comprising a Theatre, Gallery and Shop. There are also studios available to hire for classes, rehearsals and meetings. The organisation focuses on three key things:
presenting new work across art forms
supporting artists
including people facing tough times.
The Old Fire Station building is shared between Arts at the OFS and Crisis Skylight Oxford. The Arts side put on great shows and exhibitions, and Crisis support people who are homeless with housing and employment advice. The two organisations work closely together. People experiencing homelessness help to run the arts centre as volunteers, artists, staff and trustees. By sharing the building and working together, the two charities have created a unique public space. Everyone who comes in - from coffee drinkers to comedy fans, and people sleeping rough to birthday card buyers - are coming through the same door and sharing the same space. And they're all in the right place. = Social impact = Oxford is globally renowned for stunning heritage and outstanding research. It is also a place of disadvantage and inequality and is sometimes regarded as closed. Homeless people by definition do not have access to their own private and secure space in which to carry out various daily life functions, let alone enjoyable, fulfilling, or productive activities. This results in a never-ending cycle of material hardship, ill health, stigma, distrust and marginalisation. The Old Fire Station is about openness, inclusion, looking forward and different thinking. It acts as a bridge between sectors, organisations and people. Seeing, participating in and making art engages, excites and stretches people, encouraging new voices and unexpected connections. Arts at the Old Fire Station featured in the BBC Four documentary Life Is A Circus by Jo Elliot. The film focused on a project called Hidden Spire where people experiencing homelessness came together with professional theatre-makers to make a brand new, high quality theatre production from scratch. The results were transformative and the film captured the attention of many in showing the meaningful changes that happened in the lives of people facing tough times when they were given a voice through the arts. = History = The building has experienced been many different things since it opened. Locals remember it as a nightclub, a science museum, and an arts centre back in the 1980s. Originally, it was a Victorian fire station and corn exchange. The sign for the corn exchange is still above the main doorway on George Street. The archway windows of the cafe were originally where the horse and cartfire service would enter and exit the building in emergencies. Arts at the Old Fire Station was redeveloped in 2011 for use as both an arts centre and a Crisis Skylight Centre. Crisis Skylight Oxford is a training centre providing creative and formal learning opportunities to homeless and vulnerably housed people and a dedicated employment service which helps them find and keep jobs. The Crisis Skylight Cafe provides on-the-job training as well as food and drink to the wider public. In the evenings, this space becomes a Bar for Arts at the Old Fire Station, serving drinks for audiences attending shows.
