Up the Wall!

Is the North Wall Oxford's most exciting arts project in recent years? A former swimming pool at St Edward's School in Summertown has been transformed into what looks set to become an important and vibrant part of the city's cultural life. After months of planning and frenzied activity, the North Wall Arts Centre is about to throw open its doors to the public on July 2 for a three-week festival of music, theatre and film.

At the helm of the steering committee is St Edward's old boy George Fenton, now an internationally recognised film and television composer. It is his connections in the industry that have enabled the North Wall to play host to an impressive array of leading performers and directors, all of whom will offer inspiration and educational opportunities for young people in Oxford and beyond.

"The mission statement for the arts centre is to make it available for the local community and for the wider community across the country, but in particular for young people," Emily Man, the executive director, told me. "So the festival has three separate weeks for theatre, classical music and film, and it's also got workshops for young people of all ages.

"Partly this festival is about getting the word out that this is a place for young people to come and be creative. For example, we hope there'll be under-18 gigs and comedy nights. The thing about places like the Zodiac is that they are set up for alcohol and I think it's really important to have a venue that hasn't got that reputation."

The festival opens with a gala performance of the rarely-performed Handel cantata Apollo e Dafne, in a special semi-staged version directed by Michael Attenborough. The conductor is early music specialist Nicholas Kraemer, and the title roles are sung by soprano Sophie Daneman and baritone Stephen Loges.

"It's become a very prestigious gala," said Jane Carter, the Creative Director of Music at BBC Worldwide, who is overseeing the festival's music week. "We have three performances. We open with it and then come back on Thursday and Friday. So we've built the week around that.

"We wanted a great classical finale with a very prestigious soloist and we were lucky to get Imogen Cooper, which is terribly exciting, because she's an international artist."

Other main events include the Brodsky Quartet in a programme of Gershwin, Ravel and Barber, and the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. There will also be a varied programme of lunchtime and late-night concerts.

"We tried to cover as many different genres as we possibly could, so we have things from the Baroque period through to the Romantic period, as well as world music and jazz. For anybody who's got the energy to come to more than one concert, it will be an exciting journey."

The second week is devoted to theatre, and Holly Kendrick, who has put the programme together, is very proud to be bringing new plays to Oxford audiences. In particular, she is delighted to bringing the latest work presented by the National Student Drama Festival, of which she is director. The Ordinaries . . . in an awkward silence by Edward Wren will be shown for the first time outside the Drama Festival before making its way to the Edinburgh Fringe in August.

"It's an amazing piece of grotesque comedy, based on a true story, and it's an absolute joy. It swept up a lot of awards at the festival this year."

Two other new plays will be flanked by play readings, workshops and some late-night comedy, the latter featuring an appearance by Simon Amstell, host of BBC2's Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

"It's about giving people the opportunity to see new work," Holly said. "It's also about finding new voices, and finding out what the next generation wants to see. It should be a really fun week."

The festival ends with a film week, put together by Emily Man. In addition to having seven films on offer, of which five are previews, there will be opportunities to hear four eminent film directors talking about their careers and showing clips from their films. The In Conversation With . . . series will feature George Fenton and Stephen Frears, among others, and will give audiences a rare insight into their work.

Three seminars are aimed at would-be scriptwriters and directors, with advice on script development and casting from leading professionals such as Ed Clarke, Head of Development at Capitol Films, and actor Khalid Abdalla.

Emily believes that these seminars will be invaluable to anyone considering a career in film-making.

"It's an industry that is so difficult to get into and it takes such commitment. So these people really want to communicate that and make sure people know the realities, because it's such a tough industry to work in."

The North Wall Arts Centre Summer Festival runs from July 2 to 21. For tickets and further information, call 01865 305305 or visit the www.thenorthwall.com website.