Marmalade is an open collaboration between different individuals and organisations in Oxford, who come together to help shape a better Oxford.

Throughout the year, we host events, discussions and share resources. Once a year, we host a festival to celebrate, challenge and make plans.

By bringing together community organisations, local authorities, educational institutions and citizens, we can learn how to make the city better for all.

There is a Marmalade core group, which has evolved over the years through a commitment to exploring and experimenting with new ways of working. It currently includes representatives from the following organisations: Old Fire Station, Oxford Hub, Oxford City Council, African Families in the UK, Active Oxfordshire and Lankelly Chase Foundation.

The group receives funding from the Lankelly Chase Foundation and raises money from other sources, in order to experiment through three different ‘inquiries’.

The point of each inquiry is to create a space for people to explore and change, to challenge dominant ways of thinking that may be perpetuating systems of oppression, and to showcase alternative ways of doing things.

Then once a year, Marmalade explodes into a week-long festival in Oxford where the core group, individuals, organisations and visitors to the city can share their work to the public.

This annual showcase helps to advance the work of the inquiries, as well as reconnect and build a sense of hope and community through creativity and the arts.

It is supported by the Skoll Foundation and Esmee Fairbairn Foundation.

Let’s break it down…

Marmalade focuses on power, relationships and place.

Our objectives are to shift and share power across the city, and deliver better services for people.

There are three inquiries that focus on the ‘nuts and bolts’ about how we achieve this.