Calling all performers to take part in a media stunt in Derby City Centre as part of Oxfam’s GROW campaign

Calling all performers to take part in a media stunt in Derby City Centre as part of Oxfam’s GROW campaign



Calling all performers – whether you are an actor, an entertainer, are involved in amateur dramatics or you can simply ‘role-play’, Oxfam Midlands needs you to take part in a Media Stunt in Derby City Centre!



The stunt will be taking place on Tuesday September 27th and will be a mock ‘land grab’ to highlight this practice. A land grab is effectively where corporate organisations (with the agreement of national governments) buy up plots of land in developing countries. These plots of land however are being used by local communities for their livelihoods and to simply survive. The land is often ‘grabbed’ for commercial use and forces people away from the land they have cultivated.



To highlight this practice, which is part of Oxfam’s GROW campaign, we are carrying out a mock land grab in Derby and need your help to attract the public and the media. Our plan is to ‘take over Derby’ to highlight the issue in full abundance, which is where your creative skills can help us out!

We are aiming to emphasize the whole practice of ‘land grabbing’. We will have an area to display ‘land grab trading’ which will include imitating key people like estate agents, bankers and other financial companies, etc. who will be trying to buy land used by local people. In another area, we will also present a visual display of ‘a mock up plot of land’ with key people involved in taking over the land e.g. bankers, construction workers, government officials, alongside the very vulnerable local people who had previously used the land for their livelihood, as well as to simply survive. We also think it would be a good idea to include a ‘tug-of-war’ to highlight the ‘fight’ for land on both sides.

To pull this all together we need people to get involved to add drama and realism to the media stunt. We have various roles available ranging from playing bankers, estate agents, government officials, to local inhabitants fighting for their land and to ‘market traders’ and ‘sign holders’ to direct people to the activity.

We have a lot of ideas but appreciate any alternative suggestions, as you are the experts! In effect we plan to ‘take over’ Derby for the day to make the public aware of the importance to stop ‘land-grabs’ and to generate media coverage.

If you have any time to spare at all on September 27th and/or have any further questions, please get in touch. We will of course be able to meet with you beforehand (as often as required) to put ideas into practice and ‘rehearse’. Please contact me, Ebony Brooks or Gurvinder Sidhu from the Oxfam Midlands Media team as soon as possible on 0121 634 3611 / 07786 660 378 or email midlandmedia2@oxfam.org.uk or gsidhu@oxfam.org.uk. So if you’d like the chance to show off your acting skills and help raise awareness of a really important cause please get in touch as soon as possible so that we can begin putting our ideas into practice and can create an impactful media stunt!

Thank you very much and we do hope you will support our campaign!