Several Carleton-based groups united March 14 for Oxfam at Carleton’s sixth annual event, Oxjam 2015.
Oxjam is best known in the United Kingdom. The UK hosts the music festival annually for the month of October with hundreds of events all over the region, according to Oxfam’s website. Oxfam is an international NGO with a mandate to improve the state of human rights internationally. Recently, the group has focused on women’s rights.
The event took place at Hooley’s Pub downtown with a lineup of performers from Carleton.
The Carleton University Dance Crew (CUDC) started the night off with several upbeat numbers like “Push It” and “Loyal” by Chris Brown. The music wasn’t lost on the crew, who smiled widely during the performance and encouraged the still-arriving audience to interact with them and make eye contact while they danced.
The CUDC will be recognizable to many students from their frequent practices in the Unicentre atrium. They CUDC started out dancing for fun, but the group eventually collected a following of about 30 members and began performing for audiences, their president said.
The lineup continued after a 40 minute break while the group waited for more people to arrive. By intermission at 7:30 p.m., about 50 people had arrived.
Performers took the modest stage at the back of Hooley’s, in front of a set of drums and a blank projector screen. Green lights the colour of the Oxfam brand accented the stage. Attendees sat spread out between the chairs set up in front of the stage, booths behind the chairs, and on stools at the sides.
Juliana Cardozo, president of the Humanitarian Organization of Latin American Students (HOLAS), made a surprise appearance at the event to perform with her guitar. Cardozo, who helped organize a fundraising event the night before for HOLAS, thanked the Oxfam organizers for what she described as an awesome event.
“I’m loving every minute of this event,” Abrar Rahman said.
“Oxjams” are music events held all over the world to raise money for Oxfam. While the event itself isn’t unique to Carleton, Oxfam executive Caitlin Salvino said every group can take any direction with how they plan the event.
“We don’t really get told a mandate,” Salvino said.
Last year, the Oxfam at Carleton Oxjam was held in Ottawa at Mercury Lounge, but the group decided to move the event to a more accessible venue, according to Salvino.
The group hoped to attract to the event “any student that is passionate about human rights,” Salvino said.
Last semester, Oxfam at Carleton hosted an Oxgala that saw a panel of politicians discuss the importance of getting women’s issues representation in politics.
“The Oxjam is more for fun,” Salvino said.
Both the Oxgala and the Oxjam are intended to raise awareness for Oxfam International’s campaign called Up for Debate.
Up for Debate aims to organize a debate between Canadian federal party leaders on women’s issues, and issues that concern women, before the next federal election. The last debate of this kind was over 30 years ago, according to the group.
