Your local arts and culture guide

We. Love. Autumn. The weather demands cosy knitwear, roast dinners are back on the menu and, best of all, it’s a culture-vulture paradise, with new things to see and do across our county’s many museums. 

So, ready for some cerebral action? Whether you're looking for career inspiration or want to impress interviewers with your industry knowledge, kick off the season with a trip to one of these exciting new exhibitions.

For aesthetes…

Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum makes for an easy, arty day out, thanks to the Colour Revolution exhibition. With a focus on vibrant 19th-century fashion, jewellery, furnishings and paintings, including works by Ruskin, Rossetti and Whistler, the display invites you to rethink all preconceptions of the Victorian era. Open until 18th February 2024

For bookworms…

Fans of Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy will loveLyra’s Worlds at the History of Science Museum – the museum that inspired the alethiometer. As well as props from the recent TV adaptation on BBC, you’ll discover stories of creative leaders, resourceful adventurers, daring visionaries and ingenious scholars. Open until December 2023

For history buffs…

Anthropology and contemporary art collide in Unmasked: Spirit in the City – an exploration of modern masquerade at Pitt Rivers Museum. The exhibition questions traditional museology, which often presents African masks as static symbols of a bygone era, by unveiling the complex stories behind the thriving tradition.Open until 7th January 2024

For tech heads…

Did you know 75% of Bletchley Park’s famous codebreakers were women? The story of how the Estate became a 9,000-person strong intelligence organisation in the second half of WWII is brought to life in The Intelligence Factory. Open now

For art lovers…

Beyond the Page at MK Gallery explores how the traditions of South Asian miniature painting have been reinvented by modern artists. Sculpture, installations and film are just some of the experimental forms that take the fun-size characters beyond the pages of manuscripts. Open until 24th January 2024

For photophiles…

Over 80 shortlisted and winning submissions from this year’s British Wildlife Photography Awards are currently on display at Banbury Museum & Gallery. Set your inevitable camera envy to one side and appreciate the captivating, skilful depcitions of ‘Animal Behaviour’, ‘Wild Woods’ and more. Open until 24th January 2024

For fashionistas…

Want to know the historical equivalent of ‘a nice top and jeans’? From dinner dances to weddings, Amersham Museum’s latest exhibition, Glamersham, reveals how and why our Bucks ancestors dressed their best in the 19th and 20th centuries. Open until December 2023