CRW's History - Cowley Road Works

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Cowley Road Works and a short history of the Carnival

2000 – Regeneration required: East Oxford Action worked with local groups to help revive Cowley Road. Carnival as we know it today was born and the Cowley Road got its groove back.

2001 – Humble beginnings: The first Cowley Road Carnival, held in Manzil Way to a crowd of 5,000.

2002 – Carnival takes shape: A Carnival Coordinator was appointed and events company Continental Drifts were in charge of production. The Cowley Road was closed for a small procession and Manzil Gardens accommodated the main stage.

2003 – First funding: The Carnival obtained public funding for the first time thanks to Oxford City Council and the Arts Council, and attracted sponsorship from what is now Midcounties Co-operative. The first full procession was staged on Cowley Road.

2004 – Road closed: The Carnival was granted permission to completely close the Cowley Road for the whole of the Carnival, completely transforming the event and creating a whole new vibe.

2005 – Growth: By now the Carnival was attracting 25,000 people to the Cowley Road. A grant from the Urban Cultural Programme (via Oxford Inspires) allowed a much larger event, do much more with local communities and involve schools and young people. Workshops began for creating the spectacular Carnival costumes that are symbolic of the event.

2006 – Take a break: A food-focused event without a procession took place instead this year. The event went back to its roots, relying on performers playing for free and local businesses sponsoring large parts of the event. MINI Plant Oxford gave support for the first time, proving to be hugely successful.

2007 – 1000 years of Oxfordshire: Thanks to generous funding from MINI Plant Oxford, Oxford City Council and others, the Cowley Road Carnival was back – complete with procession.

2008 – Giant puppets: 20 000 people braved the rain on the Cowley Road, thrilled by the spectacular giant puppets among the procession, which had been created by community groups with local artists trained by Mandinga Arts. Albanian, Czech and Polish communities participated in Carnival, and there was also a focus on South American culture.

New beginnings

2009 – East Oxford Action Charity, now Cowley Road Works, was born with the aim to secure the long term future of Carnival and to develop it as one of the region’s biggest multicultural community arts events, and widen the involvement of and benefit to local communities and businesses. This year the Carnival retreated to South Park while the charity took time to establish itself and plan. The result was a fantastic day for families, with the Park filled with outdoor music, family activities and stalls.

2010 – Roaring success: an estimated 66,000 people attended across Fiesta in the Park on the eve of Carnival, and Carnival both at South Park and on Cowley Road. A major fundraising event, Fiesta in the Park, took place on the Saturday evening, where over 1,000 people enjoyed internationally renowned artists Kanda Bongo Man, Grand Union Carnival Band, Reggae vibes from local band Makating, jazzy Arabic film noir by Brickwork Lizards and Reggae, Dancehall and Ska from DJ Count Skylarkin. The Carnival was a fun-filled day for families in the Park and an incredibly vibrant groove all day, all along the Cowley Road.

2011 – Fiesta in the Park once again preceded Carnival on Saturday evening, featuring Roots Manuva, Kanda Bongo Man, Brassroots and Carnival Collective. On Sunday 3 July Carnival filled South Park with the procession, music and dance stages, participatory activities provided by a host of organisations, and stalls. Funding challenges meant that it was not possible to put Carnival on the Cowley Road this year.

2012 – Olympic Torch: The Carnival team took a step back in 2012 as the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations and the Olympic Torch Relay took precedence at Carnival time. Cowley Road Works in partnership with Fusion Arts ran community workshops to create flags and banners to decorate the Torch Relay route down the Cowley Road.

2013 – Sunday 7th July: Carnival was attended by more than 35,000 people with a welcome return to the Cowley Road, with the theme ‘Wheels of Change’. There was a full procession, 12 venues boasting over 100 music and dance acts and food from around the world.

2014 – Biggest Carnival yet: 45,000 people got dressed up and came down to celebrate Oxfordshire’s best day out of the year. The procession celebrated the theme Oxford Faces and the new Scrapyard Stage at the Cowley Road at the Car Park, just off the Cowley Road was hugely successful. A series of varied monthly events preceded Carnival, helping to raise funds and involve different people in different ways, from Christingles and Carols for Carnival at St Mary & St John Church in December to the Aroma Carnival Cup International Football Tournament in June.

2015 – Oxford Brookes University led the procession with the theme ‘Creating our Future’. Carnival-goers enjoyed entertainment stretching from The Plain to Magdalen Road with two main stages behind Tesco and at Manzil Gardens with nine themed zones.

2016 – Carnival was held a week later than usual – 10 July – to alow for Ramadan. The theme ‘All the World’s a Stage’ was chosen in recognition of Shakespeare’s 400th anniversary celebration. The procession was the biggest and longest in its history, with 37 groups and well over 800 participants. Carnival celebrated its widest and most diverse programme of performances and activities at 29 venues.

2017 – Cowley Road Works won the Oxfordshire Business Award for culture and tourism event. Funding from the Arts Council England helped to support several projects including new street art murals and Colossus Awakes which launched the Carnival weekend over 1&2 July. The Carnival took the theme ‘Techonology and Industry’ to celebrate Oxfordshire’s wolrd class achievements and successes. Over 50,000 people attended the Carnival with a new area dedicated to science and the European Space Agency came. Oxford Brookes University brought their F1 car and Artie the humanoid robot. Templars Square became a new sponsor and brought Templeton, the shopping centre’s mascot and the Indonesian Embassy organised a zone with food, dance, music and arts and crafts displays and demondstrations.