15 Park End Street: A Year of Community, Creativity, and Change
From Windrush elders’ tea parties to overnight gallery transformations, Fusion Arts has shown how empty buildings can be reimagined as places full of life, creativity, and connection.
Over the past 12 months, 15 Park End Street has been proof of what’s possible when you bring people and creativity into an underused space. By opening our doors to communities who often struggle to find a place in Oxford’s city centre, the building has come alive again – filled with exhibitions, gatherings, and ideas.
Community has been at the heart of everything. We welcomed the Windrush community not just for an exhibition, but for gatherings too—hosting an elders’ tea party and offering the space as a hub for connection. Multaka Oxford’s Youth Culture Club also made the space their own, using it to create and then exhibit their work. The space has hosted a number of creative workshops, talks & performances – all free and accessible to all, making sure the city centre feels like it belongs to everyone.
Multaka Oxford Youth Culture Club (Photo by Multaka Oxford)
The space has taken on many different forms.
During the Creativity Pioneers gathering of global changemakers, Park End Street was transformed into a welcoming venue for building connections. Exhibitions have continually reshaped the site as well, with temporary walls, new rooms, and ever-evolving layouts unlocking unexpected possibilities. Earlier this year, Oxford Brookes Interior architecture students explored the space and developed their own creative visions for its future. During quiet times, we’ve had artists use the space to create large artwork.
Oxford Brookes 2nd year Interior Architecture students pop-up exhibition (Photo by Fusion Arts)
Creative Pioneers gathering in Fusion Arts (Photo by Tung Tang)
It’s been a year of adaptability, collaboration, and imagination—and this is just the start.
We’re committed to unlocking more empty and underused buildings in Oxford, turning them into artist studios, community hubs, and pop-up venues for culture. Each space reactivated is another chance to bring creativity back into the city’s everyday life. None of this would be possible without the support of our partners and collaborators—including Nuffield, Moleskine, BBC Children in Need, Photography 4 Humanity, and many others—who share our belief in the power of creativity to transform spaces and strengthen community. https://fusion-arts.org/
Fusion studio artist – Anya Gliezer, creating a large artwork ‘Tamesis Unweaving’ (Photo by Fusion Arts)
