Oxjam is a charity music festival in the United Kingdom that raises money for Oxfam, whose mission is to fight poverty worldwide.[1] Events are held in multiple cities across the United Kingdom, normally in the month of October. Oxjam originated in Northern Ireland and was the brainchild of Belfast born musician Maurice Macartney who organised the first gig at the Belfast venue 'Auntie Annie's' during the Fairtrade Fortnight of 2004. The line up included bands and singer songwriters such as Cal, Talking Drums and Foy Vance. Though small in scale, the gig was a success and the concept spread further afield, leading to another much larger festival during October 2006. The project was to raise money for Oxfam. The slogan for the festival was simple: make music~ raise money~ change lives.[2] Since 2006, there have been over 3,000 of these individual events with more than 36,000 total participating musicians. Over three-quarters of a million people have attended Oxjam events since the festival's inception.[3]