Experts gear up for the 2025 Creative Industries Festival

John Henry Brookes Building

Oxford Brookes University will explore and celebrate the creative industries through interactive workshops, panel discussions, screenings and more, as part of the 2025 Creative Industries Festival.

Hosted by Oxford Brookes’ Creative Industries Research and Innovation Network (CIRIN), the annual festival showcases cutting-edge projects and transformative ideas aimed at fostering positive change in the creative sector.

The festival kicks off on 10 February with a Q&A session featuring composer Olivia Zorab entitled ‘The Art of Immersion: Composing for Theme Parks and Thriving in the Creative Industries.’ Hosted by Dr Matt Lawson, co-founder of The Sound on Screen Research Group at Oxford Brookes, the event will explore the balance between innovation and collaboration in crafting immersive experiences.

The musical theme continues with a screening of ‘It’s Yours: Hip-Hop and the Internet’ followed by a Q&A with director and producer Marguerite de Bourgoing. The film examines how the internet has reshaped the hip-hop industry, propelling artists such as Wiz Khalifa and Lil B to stardom.

Other highlights of the festival include ‘A Place for We’, an interactive workshop celebrating the African Caribbean community in Oxford. The international theme continues with a session on ‘Women in the Italian Film Industry’, a conversation with casting director Lilia Hartmann Trapani whose credits include ‘Gangs of New York’ and ‘Killing Eve’. The session will explore all aspects of the casting profession, while revealing its secrets and tracing its evolution.

Dr Hannah Yelin, Reader in Media and Culture at Oxford Brookes, said: "The creative Industries are broad and diverse and so is our programme. We will be bringing together creatives at the leading edge of culture, from composers to casting directors, artists to archivists, from TV to tech, from digital media to music documentary - and all sorts in between. Over the four days, alongside our world-class researchers, they will be showing how these industries work behind the scenes and how they shape our daily realities."

The 2025 Creative Industries Festival runs from Monday 10 February, to Thursday 13 February. For the full programme of events, visit the Creative Industries Festival webpage.