Friday Night at the Museum

You’re probably thinking, ‘Why would anyone want to go to a museum on a Friday night?’ Well, for one thing, it’s free. On the last Friday of every month, the Ashmolean museum hosts LiveFriday and opens its doors to all sorts. Comedy, dance, music, drama; you name it, they’ll have it. On the 27^th September, The Oxford Times teamed up with the museum to deliver everything from an exhibition of ‘the newspaper process in pictures’, to performances of ‘The Bureau of Silly Sports’ by UnderConstruction Theatre Company. The museum came alive, boasting Oxford’s impressive Arts scene from 7pm till 10.30pm.

Finding my way around

I actually find the place a bit of a maze to navigate. I can never work out which stairs I walked down, and figures and statues like to jump out at you around every corner. But I wasn’t there to study the latest exhibition of Francis Bacon and Henry Moore, ‘Flesh and Bone’, and it didn’t matter if I was lost because there was something going on in every room. Effectively, you’re killing two birds with one stone. You get to experience live performances, whilst admiring the collections on offer such as the world’s largest collection of Raphael drawings.

The sound of music

But it was the sound of folk music from the Baroque Art room that particularly caught my attention. Tiptoeing inside, and then remembering that the usual ‘hush hush’ of a museum did not apply, I found myself tapping my feet to the country vibes of The August List. The edgy boy/girl two-piece from Dorset performed an intimate acoustic set and played the harmonica and the melodica, as part of Truck Store’s Pop-up Shop.

The August List

Other musicians performing at the event were Oxford-based singer/songwriter, Tamara Parsons-Baker, whose powerful voice echoed throughout the ground floor as part of an open mic session, called ‘George’s Jamboree of Music, Poetry and Comedy…Possibly’. There was also music from alphabet backwards, one of many acts performing at Oxjam Oxford Takeover on 12^th October. Brookes’ own Ed Templer and Stroke of Luck will also be performing at this event, along with Brookes’ graduate, Alex Lanyon.

The perfect date?

As I wandered about the vaulted café on the night, I spotted amongst all the music and theatrical performances, Cupid and his arrow, asking people if they were ‘looking for love tonight?’ It was a strange addition to the evening, but a thoughtful one, nonetheless. So in case you didn’t know, museums are now the official place to find romance. Honestly, with so much entertainment, I think it would be a rather successful date.

Well there you go: plenty of reasons to go to a museum on a Friday night, even if it is just to find Cupid and his arrow.