Who gets to write history? At our museum, it is the people of Oxford who get to shape which stories are told and how they are presented. Our voices, individual and collective, are key to telling the story of Oxford and its people.
We are a museum about the people of Oxford, led by the people of Oxford.
Building on over 10 years of experience in community heritage projects, we want to tell community stories in a way which is relevant, fosters a sense of pride and belonging, and boosts our collective wellbeing.
Past community projects
Our principles and values
In this work, we are guided by the following set of principles:
- Our aim is to showcase local social history, in its broadest sense. We show how people of Oxford used to live in the past, draw links to how we live now, and provide inspiration for thinking about how we may live in the future.
- We serve and represent a wide range of communities. We create space for plural perspectives and multiple, intersecting identities.
- We build on the strength of our existing collections and connections. We fill existing gaps in our collections and build new connections.
Accessible and inclusive
Transparent and trustworthy
Nurturing and supportive
Anti-racist
Working with us
When we say ‘community’, we mean a group of people united by a characteristic or interest they have in common. We work with Oxford-based communities of place, communities of interest, cultural communities, and other groups which share a characteristic which is important to them and their sense of identity. We place particular importance on our work with communities protected under the Equalities act, and others whose voices have been marginalised in mainstream historical narratives and in our collections. We believe these histories should be recorded, preserved and celebrated, and that is the guiding principle of all of our community heritage work.
Watch the video above to see some examples of our community partnership work. Or you can click here to see some highlights of previous community partnership projects.
The Museum can offer the following support to community partners:
- preparing a project plan (including a timeline, required resources, and budgets)
- writing joint funding bids (all of our projects are externally funded)
- providing bid writing support to your group
- curatorial support
- museum skills support (e.g recording oral histories, archiving skills, object collecting and cataloguing skills, community engagement)
- venue hire for events at special community rates
- project management support throughout
Watch the animation below to understand how community partners (groups or individuals) can work with us on local heritage projects.
This work supports the Oxford City Council’s strategic aims and priorities, particularly the Thriving Communities Strategy.
If you have an idea for working with us on a community heritage exhibition, get in touch! If you have a well developed idea for a community exhibition, you can fill out the form below. If you need support developing your idea, please get in touch via email.
MOX Community Partnership application form
