Broadcaster Sue MacGregor, who is on the judging panel for Oxford's Capital of Culture bid, interviewed local business people as part of an evening to cultivate new relationships across the region for arts and business.

Jeremy Irwin-Singer, a senior partner at Linnells Solicitors in Oxford, also talked about his firm's new corporate sponsorship relationship with the Oxford Playhouse.

As part of this new relationship, Linnells and The Playhouse are pioneering a project to deliver a series of theatre workshops at the Steppin' Stones Centre for Homeless People, in Magdalen Road, Oxford, with the aim of breaking down social barriers.

Mr Irwin-Singer said: "It is an enormously valuable way of us supporting the local community.

"We are not only backing the artistic work of The Playhouse, but we are also helping to take it beyond the theatre building and into a different locality."