The Turl Street Arts Festival (TSAF) is an annual festival held in February, involving students from the three Turl Street Colleges in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

: Jesus College, Exeter College and Lincoln College. It is one of several arts festivals in Oxford, and has been running since 1997. TSAF is organized by a committee of students from the three colleges. Each year a different College takes lead of the Festival, nominating the Chair of the Festival from within their

Junior Common Room A common room is a group into which students and the academic body are organised in some universities in the United Kingdom and Ireland—particularly collegiate universities such as Oxford and Cambridge, as well as the University of Bristol ...

(JCR). Originally created by the members of the Colleges including Chris Millington and Caroline Russell with support from the Chaplains of the colleges and the organ scholars, the week varies from more formal events such as choral recitals to open mic nights and several plays. There are also opportunities for photography exhibitions and short film previews. The week traditionally ends with a Sunday

Choral Evensong Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. In origin, it is identical to the canonical hour of vespers. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which beca ...

led by the combined choirs of the three colleges. The 2019 festival will run between Friday 8 February and Sunday 15 February.

Past festivals

In 2006, the Festival was opened by the Archbishop of Canterbury,

Rowan Williams Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet. He was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, a position he held from December 2002 to December 2012. Previously the Bish ...

. Martha Fiennes was another guest speaker. In 2017, Ed Wignall and Eleanor Begley were co-Presidents, both from Exeter College. Previous themes have included 'Decades' in 2016 and 'Zodiac' in 2017.

External links

* {{Official website, https://turlstreetartsfestival.com/
Article in the Oxford Student

Article in the Cherwell
Festivals in Oxford Exeter College, Oxford Jesus College, Oxford Lincoln College, Oxford