🚨 Resident spotlight time 🚨 We caught up with SHARE Oxford, a longtime resident at Aristotle Lane. SHARE is a small charity and member of Community Action Groups Oxfordshire dedicated to saving waste through sharing, repairing and reuse. Here's what they had to say...

Learn the art of visible mending with & repair your own jumper with wool in a contrasting colour. Bring new life to old clothes, turning a rip or hole into a feature. Bring your own jumper! Rosie Leech is running this workshop at our Oxford Aristotle Lane hub. 🗓️ 22 Jay, 6-8pm 🎟️ buff.ly/izV60dL

Our missions 🔓 💪 📣 🌱 ✨

Across the country, we see experiments in regenerative economics, civic endowments & community stewardship that prove system change is not an abstract idea. The challenge is immense, but so is the opportunity to create neighbourhoods, towns & cities that are healthy, thriving, just spaces for all.

🚨We have spaces in central Oxford🚨 Two studio/office spaces will be available in our Makespace Central hub from mid-February. This is a gorgeous period building with a cute shared kitchenette, and bright rooms with original floorboards. Interested? Fill in the application form in our bio

Head to our Aristotle Lane hub for a screening of short film "Outgrow the System," which explores how we can return to the essence of the term and design an economic system that genuinely manages our scarce resources. 🗓️ 27th January, 7-9pm 📍 1 Aristotle Lane, Oxford 🎟️ From link in bio

Happy New Year to all our followers, residents & wider community ✨ 🎉 We rounded out the year with reflection & guerrilla gardening outside The Community Works, sprucing up an unloved council-owned bed. Now we're back from winter break ready to take the journey toward spatial justice into 2026!

Seasons greetings from the Makespace Oxfordshire crew, whether you have been or will be celebrating Hanukkah, Yule/the solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, or none of the above ❄✨ Our team is now taking a well-deserved break until the New Year. See you in 2026!

🏘️12 Days of Impact, Day 12: Community events and activities had impact across our four missions🏘️ In 2025, we delivered 35 Makespace-led events, co-hosted 61 partner activities & enabled 181 community-led sessions through free or subsidised hires, reaching 7,500+ community members.

🍊12 Days of Impact, Day 11: We celebrated our community connections and debuted our vision for change Marmalade Festival🍊 As part of our (re)founding this year, we celebrated being part of the Mycelial Network — a web of Community Asset Developers sharing ideas, resources & visions for change.

🏛️ 12 Days of Impact, Day 10: Civic imagination & place-shaping through our Common Futures programme 🏛️ This year, our Common Futures programme brought people together to imagine fairer civic life in Oxford. Through creative, place-rooted workshops, we shared stories, surfaced lived experience &

🤝12 Days of Impact, Day 9: Shared our learnings to support local property partnerships in other parts of the country🤝 Platform Places is a cross-sector partnership committed to unlocking town centre spaces for amazing ideas. Last year they secured £2.5m from the National Lottery to develop their

🎉12 Days of Impact, Day 8: Successful completion of the National Lottery grant programme supported growth and built capacity🎉 Over the past three years the National Lottery Community Fund helped us do more than unlock buildings. We were able to offer practical 1:1 support from our

✨12 Days of Impact, Day 7: Supporting organisations to take on space✨ Over the past year, we’ve supported YWMP to take on their own meanwhile lease and set up a building — a huge step forward. Having their own space helps them support more young women and trans and non-binary people to

🔓12 Days of Impact, Day 6: We unlocked more space to support social impact🔓 This year, we opened a new central Oxford hub: 9 Park End Street, in a former office building that had been sitting largely empty for several years. This unlocked almost 2,800 square metres of space,

♀️12 Days of Impact, Day 5: Community building through International Women’s Day events⚧️ Throughout March, we celebrated International Women’s Day with residents across Makespace Oxfordshire. Poetry, storytelling, shared meals, talks, and creative workshops highlighted what’s possible when women

💡12 Days of Impact, Day 4: Building community capacity through the OSEP business support programme💡 In 2025 we joined OSEP’s business support programme, offering free, tailored guidance to help social enterprises across Oxfordshire build capacity & thrive. We delivered workshops, peer groups

🎨12 Days of Impact, Day 3: Shaping place & fostering connection through South Abingdon art pop-ups🎨 This year, we hosted three art pop-ups in South Abingdon. Over 250 people from the local community attended, to get creative and connect. We were able to focus on ecological activities and place

🌱12 Days of Impact, Day 2: We (re)founded with a renewed focus on spatial justice🌱 This year, we unveiled Makespace Oxfordshire’s vision for change. We started our journey unlocking one empty space – Aristotle Lane in Jericho – to help organisations for social good access affordable space.

We asked ourselves the question: Who's funding system change in Oxfordshire? In one of the wealthiest counties in England, too many people are still being left behind. Scratch beneath the surface of Oxfordshire’s prosperity and a different story soon emerges. So, what can we do to tackle the

Thanks to everyone who came to our resident Winter Warmer last night ❄️🔥🎉 And to our fab community coordinator, Sarah, for making it happen! We were thrilled to hear some of our community’s highlights from the year) from successful projects to mending old friendships) & see new connections form

What is Alex up to? Wrong answers only.

✨ Coming up at our Aristotle Lane hub, hosted by the brilliant members of Sabali Pots 🎉

💡 Time for a resident spotlight 🚨 This time, we're highlighting the work of The Makery, residents of The Old Stables in Wantage. "The Makery is a community craft workshop - we have a sustainable stash of craft materials, we run friendly craft clubs, workshops, and markets all to promote the joy

📣 This week 📣 As part of our Voices of Impact film series, we have a screening of documentary "Fires and Fascism" along with a Q&A from the director. Check out the trailer! 🗓️ 21st Nov, 6pm 📍 The Junction, Didcot 🎟️ £5, via link in bio

‼️ Take note! Our next Common Futures event on Friday has a new finish time: 5pm (previously 5:30pm). Apologies for any inconvenience this causes This event is led by Roman Krznaric, author of books such as The Good Ancestor & History for Tomorrow. Tickets are still available via the link in bio

Sharing on behalf of our friends at T(art) Productions Access All Areas: A practical guide to crafting an accessible business Tuesday 9 Dec & Tues 13 Jan Did you know that approx 24% of the UK population is Disabled? Are you confident in supporting Disabled people as staff members or customers?

Over 100 people came to our Autumn art pop-up in South Abingdon last month. We loved getting creative with y’all, making leaf crowns, prints & other crafts 🍂 🍁 🧹 Thanks to everyone who came, to Jess from Life Styling for facilitating, and to our amazing support artists who ran activities

Sharing news of an upcoming event at Aristotle Lane organised by Thames21: Hack the River invites coders, data scientists, designers, and environmental problem-solvers to unleash their creativity and technical skills on real-world river data. Over two weeks, teams will dive into the open-source

When you're a Makespace resident, you get more than just space, you get access to a community of makers, do-ers & dreamers. People who are working for cultural & social good, who want to make the world a better place. Apply for space in one of our buildings via the link in our bio #oxford

🍂 Join us for an autumn art pop-up in South Abingdon 🍁 📅 Thursday 31 October 🕚 11am–2pm 📍 Carousel Family Centre, Abingdon We'll be making leaf prints, leaf crowns, and mini brooms from twigs and herbs. Come along, get creative, and celebrate autumn with us #abingdonevents #oxfordshireevents

Learn about unlocking space for your social enterprise with Makespace's new project manager, Alex Lui. He'll cover: 💼 Developing a business model to take on space. 💭 Creating a vision pitch to a landlord 👷‍♀️ Assessing the building condition 🏘️ How to make meaningful connections with place

A quick reminder about our apple day activities this weekend - just drop by to our Aristotle Lane hub on 25th October, 11am to 2pm. We'd love to see you! 🍏 🌳 🍎

Next in our Voices of Impact film series! Fires and Fascism shows wildfires in Europe result beyond climate change, but link also to big business, organised crime & the rise of the far right. Stick around after for a Q&A with the director. 🗓️21st Nov, 6pm 📍The Junction, Didcot 🎟️£5, link in bio

One of our missions is to support capacity building within our resident community - but what does this mean? For communities to truly reclaim and steward spaces, they need to navigate the complexities of property, planning and organisational development, and resist systemic injustices.

Creating community spaces for today is important, but we should also be considering future generations in our plans. Thinking beyond ourselves and the present will help us create thriving neighbourhoods for generations to come. This event will be led by Roman Krznaric, a social philosopher who

So much warmth, wisdom & injera last week at our Bringing Community Hubs to Life workshop and dinner. Big thanks to Annie Davy & Makena Lohr, founders of Flo’s, for sharing their stories & sparking so many rich conversations about community, collaboration, and what it takes to make spaces thrive.

👋 Want to be part of the Makespace community? 🌱 We have private spaces available in our new central Oxford hub and a fixed desk space at Charter Studios in Abingdon. Fill out the application form in our bio or get in touch with any questions

We'd love to see you at our Voices of Impact film screening. We'll be showing a documentary on flax farming, along with some other form films about sustainable fibres and sustainable fashion. 🗓️ 21 October, 6-8pm 📍 The Junction, Didcot 🎟️ Free, but booking essential (link in bio)

Come to our Aristotle Lane hub on 25th October 11am to 2pm to celebrate Apple Day with us 🍎 🍏 Bring your apples (even the gnarly windfalls) and a clean bottle - we'll have an apple press making juice and apple identification happening so you can find out what kind your tree is 🌳

A couple of photos from recent editions of our Common Futures event programme to tell you there's still time to come to the latest event THIS THURSDAY Learn from community innovators about creating a community hub and connect with others out there doing the work Link in bio for more info & tix

Just a few photos of some of 9 Park End Street’s first cohort of residents ✨ If you’re looking for space in central Oxford and want to join this lovely crew (and more folks doing great work in the community), fill in the application for in our bio Any questions, email [email protected]

‼️ Last couple of tickets for this workshop and dinner with the co-founders of Flo's ✨ 🗓️ 9th October, 4 to 7pm 📍 Lula's Ethiopian Cuisine, Park End Street, Oxford 🎟️ Free, but booking essential - link in bio #oxfordcommunity #communityorganisers #communityspace

If you have or are setting up a socially impactful business in Oxford City or South & Vale you can come and learn about finding & unlocking space as part of the OSEP business support programme. 🗓️ 15th October and 6th November, 4:30-6pm 📍 Online Book your free spot via the link in our bio

We’re still feeling inspired after the Sounds of the Commons workshop with Oxford Spatial Action Lab. Together, we explored the ways commons and commoning intersect with spatial justice — asking how land, resources, and even the stories embedded in the city can be held in common. You can learn

Are you a social enterprise, non-profit or artist, looking for space in Oxford? We have rooms available in our new building at 9 Park End Street. It's a chance to be part of a wider community, offering mutual support and inspiration, while accessing affordable space to thrive & grow 🌱

If you run a social enterprise in South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse District, or Oxford City, we're offering 1:1 business support as part of OSEP's programme. We're able to offer advice on anything related to taking on space: finding it, unlocking it, and renovating it.

Scenes from our recent Tales Of The Thames workshop, artists, local residents and river volunteers came together to turn concern into action, through hands-on water testing and communal artwork. Check out the link in our bio for more info on upcoming events #oxford #oxfordcommunity

The Oxford Wellbeing Coop is among our newer residents at Makespace Central. It's a collective of practitioners offering support, space, policies&accountability. "We want to create a genuinely safe environment that encourages wellness practitioners of minority backgrounds to break into the industry"

Scenes from our South Abingdon Art Pop-Up! 🌳🎨 46 people joined us, despite the rain, with half of attendees saying the event helped them connect more deeply with their local community. Huge thanks to our brilliant supporting artists Tom McLean & Michèle Dennison, and to everyone who joined in!