Get Involved

Fancy becoming an Oxjam volunteer? Great! You’ll meet some great people, learn how to put on incredible gigs, and raise money and awareness for Oxfam at the same time.

There are different ways that you can become involved with Oxjam. You can…

• Apply to volunteer as a Regional Team Member (i.e. a member of the Oxjam Cardiff team)
• Volunteer as a helper (e.g. stewarding, flyering, baking cakes, shaking buckets, anything really!)
• Volunteer as a Music Event Organiser (this way, you’re responsible for organising your own, smaller Oxjam event with support from the Regional Team)
• Play at an Oxjam gig for free

 

Becoming a Regional Team Member

Each year, the main Oxjam team in Oxford recruit Oxjam Volunteer Regional Managers all around the UK. Keep checking the main Oxjam website for details on application deadlines. Oxjam will be back again in October 2010, and the Regional Managers will recruit their own Regional Support Teams to work together to create an amzing festival.

In 2009, the support team roles were Event Logistics Coordinator, Media and Marketing Coordinator, Fundraising Coordinator, Community Participation Coordinator and Campaigns and Brand Coordinator. Here’s what Becci (Media and Marketing) and Matt (Fundraising) had to say about their Oxjam experience.

 

Volunteer as a helper

Each year, thousands of people across the UK get involved with Oxjam in one way or another. In Cardiff, we had people baking cakes, painting faces, making Oxjam bracelets, stewarding closed-off roads, collecting raffle prizes, helping with promotion, campaigning, shaking buckets and counting lots of pennies. If you’ve got an hour or two to spare, then Oxjam will most definitely give you something to do to help pass the time. It also looks great on your CV, and you’ll get that warm gooey feeling in your belly knowing that you’ve helped to put on a great event and raised some vital funds for Oxfam.

And you find that once you’ve had a taste of volunteering with Oxjam, you’ll just want to keep Oxjamming! Here, local musician, sound engineer and general nice guy, Mark Bowie, talks about why he got involved with Oxjam in 2009 (on multiple occasions!) and why he’ll be Oxjamming again in 2010.

 

Volunteer as a Music Event Organiser

Fancy getting stuck in and organising an Oxjam event yourself? AMAZING! It doesn’t have to be anything massive, in fact the simplest ideas often work the best and you’ll find yourself a lot less stressed on the day of the event. The Regional Support Team is also in place to offer you tips, support and guidance on how best to plan a successful Oxjam event, and you’ll also be able to access resources such as collection tins, posters, banners and collection buckets, and of course the infamous Oxjam badges that will help you raise an extra few quid.

There were loads of Oxjam events organised by Music Event Organisers in Cardiff last October, and it made for a great month of music, fundraising and campaigning, alongside the big all-day Oxjam Cardiff Takeover: Womanby Street event. The Oxjam Cardiff team helped out MEOs with training, planning, promotion and also on the day of their events to make sure everyone’s Oxjam experience was as amazing as possible. We had tea parties, welsh language gigs, quizzes, busks, open mic nights,, and of course a good ol’ fashioned gig or two.

The video below shows the experience of two MEOs, Sam and Alex, who organised a fashion and music event at Buffalo. The fashion show consisted of clothes from Oxfam shops that were revamped, and also some clothes that were made from recycled materials. It was a great way to promote Oxfam, the climate change campaign, and put on a fantastic evening filled with music and ethical shopping. Musical entertainment was provided by Little My, Sparky Deathcap, YoHo!, and DJ sets from Wolf Whisperer and Neil Los Campesinos! I certainly enjoyed myself! Exclamation mark!

 

Play an Oxjam gig for free!

The beauty of Oxjam is that it isn’t genre-specific. Anything goes! If you’re passionate about Oxjam and want to play, then the best way to get in touch is via email or myspace (details on our Contact page). We can’t promise gigs to everyone but we’ll do our best, or we can put you in touch with other local Oxjammers who are looking for acts to play. And you could always put on your own event with a little help from your Oxjam friends.