Latest blog post:

Philanthropy: How to be a world-changing rebel and get away with it

Philanthropy is a big word – one that can make people turn away. One that is easier for some to do than others. One that can make people uncomfortable, because it is at the...

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Review: Dido’s Bar

Volunteer reviewer Lucy went to see Dido’s Bar. She tells us what she thought: OVADA is a warehouse tucked away in the centre of Oxford. From the outside it’s a carpark. You could easily...

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Why have we become obsessed with meaningful measurement?

Jeremy Spafford, Director of the Old Fire Station, spoke at a Meaningful Measurement Inquiry: Why have we become obsessed with meaningful measurement?

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You are welcome here.

Dear trans and non-binary community: whether you are an artist, audience member, volunteer, member of staff or have any other connection to the building, you are welcome here. If you feel unsafe at any...

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It’s not easy (talking about) being green

Our friends at house theatre network asked us what we’re doing about the climate crisis. Here’s what our Alex, our Head of Creativity & Communications, had to say: How do you talk about the...

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Review: Learning To Fly

OFS reviewer and volunter usher Lucy saw Learning To Fly in September 2022. Originally, I wasn’t going to write a review. With my life descending into a black hole of appointments, assessments and errands,...

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Why aren’t we doing a Christmas show, this year?

Since 2016, the Old Fire Station has produced Christmas shows for grown-ups. We identified a non-panto niche in the city’s arts offer, and with a lot of help from Arts Council England, we made...

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What difference have I actually made?

Why Meaningful Measurement is important

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What we learned at the 2021 Meaningful Measurement inquiry events

How to create ways of evaluating work that takes into account people’s stories and experiences, and shift the focus from the process of measuring, to the learning it gives

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The journey to evaluation and storytelling in our every day

At the Old Fire Station (one of the organisations that founded the Marmalade core group), we spent many years struggling with evaluation. We found that conventional form filling, box-ticking and number counting didn’t always...

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Review: Fifteen Years Of Granite

OFS reviewer and volunteer usher Lucy saw Fifteen Years of Granite, July 2022. Saturday 16 July, 6.30pm, and I have snuck away from a party to usher (and review) 15 Years of Granite, a...

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Review: Cell Outs

OFS reviewer and volunteer usher Lucy saw Cell Outs, July 2022. Inside the theatre is creepy, but also quite spectacular. The stage represents a prison. There are cages full of items that look like...

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Review: Naughty

OFS reviewer and volunteer usher Lucy saw Naughty, July 2022. It is 6.30pm on another sweltering July day and the cool of the drama studio is soothing and refreshing. I don’t know what to...

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