Email oxjam@oxfam.org.uk, or phone us on 0300 200 1255

Sign up as an event organiser on the website, and have a hunt round there. You'll find all sorts of useful information and resources to help with your event. You can always call or email us though if you can't find the answer you're looking for.

Our Takeover managers recruit their core team of volunteers from April - June.  You can look on our website for details during those months.  They are also always on the lookout for volunteers to help with fundraising, production, promotion and on-the-day help.  Contact them direct to find out more. Keep an eye on our website, and sign up to our mailing list. We'll then let you know when opportunities arise, and provide links to each team's own web space.

Oxjam benefits from it's network of music industry experts to help train and support our volunteers.

Training days for Oxjam event organisers will be held in June and July in various locations in the UK.  They are run by Oxfam and our partners from LiveNation and the Academy Music Group. We also provide handy downloadable resources - our Toolkit tells you everything you need to know to get started with your event!!

Some areas may not have a Takeover team in their near vicinity and this is due to the initial recruitment of teams.

When we appoint Takeover managers to lead these teams, we are extremely selective. We only appoint if we think that person can pull together a truly exceptional event. That means that we sometimes end up without a Takeover team in some towns and cities. But that does create extra space for anyone else to organise a particularly special event in those places themselves.

An Oxjam Takeover Event is a multi-venue event showcasing the best local talent all playing in the most exciting local venues. The events are organized by teams of Oxjam volunteers who spend over 6 months putting them together. You just need to buy a wristband and work out your route between all the amazing venues in the town or city. All proceeds go to Oxfam's vital work.

 

In 2009 we introduced the Oxjam Takeover. These amazing multi-venue one-wristband-gives-access-to-all events (think Camden Crawl) have become the showcase of the year for local emerging talent. On one weekend in October around 3,000 musicians will perform in over 200 venues as part of the 33 Oxjam Takeover events, which took place right across the country.

This year 33 Takeover events will take place from Aberdeen to Bristol, organised by Oxjam Takeover teams. Keep checking the line-up for the latest details, and contact your regional team if you are interested in performing or helping out at one of these events.

Oxjam Takeovers are different to normal Oxjam events and work to a specific model. Each one is organised by a regional team and regional Manager and take about 6 months to organise and fundraise for. They are held across multiple venues and we invest alot of time and hard-work into making them a success.

If you would like to be part of putting on a Takeover then please contact our central team and we can let you know when we are recruiting teams. Otherwise we'd prefer if you didn't refer to your event as an Oxjam takeover to save confusing your event with one of our regional teams.

 

 

Whilst October is the Oxjam month long music festival it is possible to have it any time that suits you.

Your event can be held any time of year but ideally we would like as many events to take place in October as possible. This way you benefit from the national marketing and buzz Oxjam are creating to publicise Oxjam as a month long festival.

If there is a Takeover event taking place in your town and city then we'd recommend that you hold your event on a different night.

Holding your event on a different night to the Takeover event in your town or city means you'll have more punters, artists and venues to choose from and make your event successful.

Oxjam doesn’t usually recommend holding an outdoor event. They carry a high risk (especially in October) and take a lot of organisation. The best formula for a successful event is an existing, inside, licensed venue which has the equipment that you and your bands will need.

However if you do feel experienced enough to organise an event anywhere live music is not usually heard - the most important thing that you need to consider is a Temporary Events Notice (TEN) These are usually available from your local council. Find out more from www.culture.gov.uk .

It sounds obvious, but don’t forget - Sufficient waterproofing for all your electrical gear is essential. Don't stand anything electrical or valuable directly on the ground to avoid puddles forming unexpectedly and causing damage. Make sure everything is well tied down in case of high winds.

Yes on the proviso that the venue you're using does not hold a licence for over 18s only.

It is important that whenever approaching a venue you ask if there are any age restrictions.  Usually venues are over 18s only, some venues have an over 14 or over 16 license, or can obtain one for special events.  14-17 year olds MUST be accompanied by an adult at all times.

 Yes, although we don't recommend this for the following reasons. The Oxjam central team won't be able to support you and all of the the advice that we provide (especially on the legal side) is only relevant for the UK.  Also only UK events will benefit from our promotion and national exposure.

Oxjam is all about local music, global impact. We can’t say strongly enough, Please don’t contact big name artists for your event.
This is for the following reasons:

• Oxfam GB is building relationships with celebrities to build media awareness of the vital humanitarian that Oxfam GB does work and these relationships can easily be damaged by more than one person contacting artists to request support.
• When Oxjam does work with celebrities we do this for one reason only – to deliver media coverage to raise awareness of the Oxjam music festival as a whole. This then means that venues and local artists are much more willing to get involved and the public are much more willing to buy tickets. This is managed by the small central team and we are supported by our friends in the music industry to make this cost-effective and successful.
• The concept of Oxjam and the reason why it is successful is because it highlights the best local music all around the UK and the brilliant people who organise gigs. Getting celebrities in doesn’t really fit.
• Oxjam is about raising money, gaining music experience and having fun. The riders, legal considerations, and general stress of ensuring that celebrities are looked after can really detract from this.
• The only option that we recommend is if there is an event already happening with signed musicians – then if you feel it’s a good fit with Oxjam who could consider contacting the promoter to see if they would like to tag the event as an Oxjam one and give some of the proceeds to Oxjam. Have a look at the ‘How do I tag an existing event’ FAQ to find out more.

We get asked this question a lot. The answer is that we can't. Oxjam is a network of volunteers who work with local talent to make a global impact.

You'll find all of the infomation on this in the toolkit. Oxjam can't approach celebrities on your behalf and because Oxjam is about Iocal talent it doesn't make sense to take on the costs and the risks of big-name artists.

Many major artists support Oxfam's work but these relationships will be damaged if volunteers approach big-name aritsts directly. When it comes to Oxjam gigs, smaller events with local artists make better, and more rewarding fundraisers.

The regional teams are there to support you and give you guidance on the best ways of doing this, however the challenge and the fun of putting on an Oxjam event is up to you.

The Regional Teams may be able to advise you on the best way of doing this. If you've signed up as an Organiser then you'll find the Toolkit your first point of call to help you Picture, Plan and Promote your event - as well as all the documents you'll need such as venue contracts and press release templates. You'll find all of this in the Promote my Event section of 'My Oxjam'

Oxjam have put together some helpful materials to ensure that your event is a success. This includes a step by step toolkit, on-brand poster generator and draft press releases.

You'll find these materials in the 'Promote My Event' Section of 'My Oxjam' once you've signed in as a music event organiser. It's on the left hand side of the screen, or you can also find it here.

Yes of course you can approach your local shop.

Please be aware although they are employed by Oxfam, in no way are they obliged to help you as Oxjam is a different project.  Saying that many of our shops have helped teams and organisers put on brilliant events, some shops even put their own on. 

This year several shops have hosted events with their own pop-up-shop also brought into venues, a great way to add to your fundraising.  Our Dalston and Glasgow shops also hosted high profile media launch events for Oxjam, so if you don't ask you don't get!

We’ve put together some hints and tips for successful promotion. We build all of this advice from previous Oxjammers and our network of industry experts but it's just the very beginning - if you have any tips to share - please contact us at oxjam@oxfam.org.uk. 

-         Get as many people involved with promoting your event as possible. Some organisers use street teams or friends to create a buzz about the event and drive advance ticket sales. Also get them to retweet your event and invite their friends. Make it worth their while (beer favours seem to work).  Arm them with the info – use the poster generator to make flyers with the key info for them to circulate.

-       “Never miss an opportunity’ This is our favourite piece of advice from our friends at Truck festival. Have an email signature – link it to your event on facebook. Carry flyers with you everywhere and give them to everyone you come into contact with.

 -         Use your artists and venues – have a chat and see if they will be happy to promote your event through their channels – we’ll have some special e-banners up for this in the next few days – but in the meantime – just give them the key info to include in listings/MySpace/facebook /twitter pages. Getting bands/venues to send a message to their followers  (give them some suggested copy to make it easy and quick to do) can be a hugely effective channel.

 

-         Get the local press interested. Local papers tend to find stories about volunteers putting on music events interesting content so send them a press release with the key information about your event. You don’t need to write this in a journalistic style or big up your event too much – just send them the key info – follow it up with a phone call or two to check they received it and if they need any more info – and you’ll be likely to get some fantastic local coverage.

 

-         Ask around to make sure you are aware of, and using the key local music digital and community sites.

 

-         Have a presence at local music events prior to yours and see if you can promote your event there, talk to the promoter there and see if the artists can help you  get a crowd for your Oxjam events.   

-         Use facebook wisely. Spamming your friends isn’t always the key to success. However – having a link to your event with every interesting status update you send will drive interest and traffic. And ask other people to help you – invite their friends and build a sense of momentum.

 

-         Use Oxjam wherever you can, the branding, the name. It’s important to drive those people who want to go to an Oxjam event, to your event. The branding has been redesigned to drive standout and ensure people recognize the events.

-         Use your Regional Teams – they want to help, they want to help promote your event. Get in touch with them through the Oxjam website. If you aren’t making progress with them (it’s holiday season and everyone is also volunteers) just email us at Oxjam@oxfam.org.uk and we’ll be able to help. 

 

For more advice on promotion check out our Article on the Newsfeed.

From our experience, beginning the promotion of your event can be a little daunting. It’s easy to put off. What if the venue changes? Or if that amazing but elusive local band does come in? We’ve also learnt that promoting your event  4-6 weeks  in advance is the single biggest factor for success. 

-       Events that are listed on the Oxjam website and on the Oxjam portal at WeGotTickets will benefit directly from the nationwide media coverage that Oxjam will receive from Sept 2^nd onwards from our celebrity friends and media partners. All of this coverage will direct people to go to an Oxjam event near them to see the best local music. If your event isn’t listed – this audience won’t consider it. Remember you can edit your event at anytime so it doesn’t matter if details change later on.

 

-       Word of mouth is likely to be your single biggest audience driver. Your friends bringing their friends, key people in your town/city who will bring along a crowd and create a buzz. This takes time and the more info you give them sooner will really help.

 

 

-       Online ticket sales give you a steer as too how successful your event will be and allows you to switch gears accordingly. If you sell out in the first couple of days you can use the time to iron out production earlier than planned or start to plan fundraising elements of your event.

 

-       The more time you give yourself to get into local listings and interest the local press the better. 

Paying Money In

Money raised from your event should always be paid to Oxfam directly and this can be done in numerous ways :

1) Online, is the quickest and easiest method

2) By cheque payable to Oxfam. send it along with a completed Oxjam Event Income Form which can be found on the Pay in Money section of the website.

3) Alternatively you can submit the money through your nearest Oxfam Shop, make sure you include an Oxjam Event Income form so that the Money goes straight to Oxjam.

Putting on an Oxjam event is a challenge and we try to help as much as possible with training and resources to make your event a success. You'll find all of this helpful advice in the My Oxjam section of the website if you've signed up as an Organiser - but we recognise that some events make more, and some make less than pledges. It isn't a problem not to meet your target and Oxfam are grateful for all the money that you do raise.

The toolkit and guidance we provide should give you the skills to coordinate a budget and plan so that you avoid making a loss.  Oxfam unfortunately can't be responsible for any losses incurred.  Use the information we provide, and use your nearest regional team for support. Enusre that you are using the best local talent and venues for free and that you are making the most of fundraising opportunities before and after your event.