2013 Evaluation amp Plans for 2014 Ceri Gorton Oxford City Council cgortonoxfordgovuk wwwoxfordschristmascom Evaluation of 2013 event Key findings Safe and successful 100000 people attended ID: 484824
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Slide1
Christmas Light Festival
2013 Evaluation & Plans for
2014
Ceri Gorton, Oxford City Councilcgorton@oxford.gov.uk
www.oxfordschristmas.com
Slide2
Evaluation of 2013 event
Key findings
Safe and successful
100,000 people attended
C
ultural 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 beforeSlide3
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 stakeholdersSlide4
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 citySlide5
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 meetingsSlide6
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 citySlide7
Next Steps
Monthly stakeholder meetings (open)
2
nd
Wednesday each month starting 9 April12-1pm, Town HallBrief 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)
2
nd
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.