During this three week festival starting on May 15th over a thousand artists will be displaying their work in their homes or in small venues where the public can view and talk to the artists.

The Summertown shopping area will be alive with music, dance, and children's activities on Saturday morning, 15 May when the local street festival launches Artweek in Summertown.

This year's street festival will feature nine musical groups performing music ranging from jazz to acapella singing, two dance groups, and a theatre troupe from the Pegasus Theatre.

Artwork from the Summertown Festival 2004

There will be two contests with prizes, one for art work sponsored by Shepherd and Woodward where there will be a chance to meet Scooby-Doo, and the other an arty fancy dress parade judged by well-known children's illustrator, Korky Paul and sponsored by Marks and Spencer.

For the second year running, the Summertown artists have organised an art forum. This year's forum will be held in the University Museum on Parks Road on Wednesday, 19 May. A panel from various ranks of the arts including Richard Wentworth, head of the Ruskin School of Art, will speak on the subject "Can art be taught?".

There are over forty artists in this small section of the city which extends up to just beyond the ring road and includes Woolvercote.

They range from professionals to people taking the plunge into exhibiting to the public for the first time. They work in a range of medias from painting, photography, ceramics and jewellery.

They share the passion of all artists for their work, but what makes Artweeks special is that the works are shown primarily in the artists' own homes. Thus the setting is very personal and informal, and it allows the public a unique opportunity to chat with the artists about their methods, style, and vision.

Artwork from the Summertown Festival 2004

All visitors need do is look in the free Artweeks guide where each artist is listed with a photo and brief details about the kind of art they do along with their address and visiting times. The guides can be picked up in shops, libraries, doctors' and dentists' surgeries, and other public places.

Many local businesses are supporting the artists in the area by displaying work, sponsoring street festival entertainment and the Summertown Artweeks flier, and distributing Artweeks guides, so this is a real community effort.

See our feature on Artweeks 2004.