A couple of months ago, we invited you to submit your photos and videos to produce a crowd-sourced video set to an acoustic version of Coldplay’s “In My Place.” Now, we can share the resulting film, which is drawn from footage submitted by thousands of fans in 55 countries:

The concept and film was created by award-winning director Mat Whitecross to echo the dislocation and displacement thousands of families experience as a result of land grabs. (For one example, see this compelling series of photos of families affected by land grabs in Cambodia).

The film shows people from Argentina to Indonesia moving something favorite, personal, or familiar from their home to somewhere it doesn’t belong. Others show people doing something personal and familiar totally out of place, such as actor Dominic Cooper taking a nap outside in the freezing city of Budapest and the band Wolf Gang jamming in the street. Singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran also makes an appearance holding a sign in support.

Coldplay, who have been working with Oxfam since 2003, said they were happy to break new ground with a crowd-sourced video. “Not only are Coldplay fans very good-looking but they’re also incredibly creative,” said the band. “We’re proud that they’ve dedicated their collective talent to this important cause.”

Longtime supporters of Oxfam’s work know that we have a long and creative history of working with our global ambassadors, Coldplay. This week, we’ve taken this collaboration to new creative heights with the announcement of a crowd-sourced project that asks fans of the band to contribute to a video highlighting the global injustice of land grabs. Every two days, an area of land the size of Chicago is sold to foreign investors in developing countries; two-thirds of those investors plan to export everything they produce on the land – in some cases, destroying local food supplies in places where food insecurity is already dangerously high and forcing many people to go hungry.

For their contributions to the video, participants will move a favorite, personal, or familiar item from their home to somewhere it doesn’t belong, or do a personal, everyday, or familiar activity that they’d usually do at home, in totally the wrong place.The video, which will be set to an exclusive just-for-Oxfam acoustic version of the classic “In My Place,” will be stitched together by Coldplay’s music video and film director Mat Whitecross.

The project has already received quite a bit of attention in the mainstream media, the music press, and on Sirius/XM Radio. For more information on how to participate in the project, check out the widget above.

Did you have your photo taken by an Oxfam volunteer at a Coldplay concert this summer? Were you drawn into a compelling conversation with someone dressed as a tomato, taco, or giant banana? If so, you might just make a cameo appearance in an exclusive Coldplay tour video. The brand-new video, released today, features special tour footage shared by Coldplay as a way to say thank you to all of the fans who supported Oxfam on their recent world tour:

Here in the US, you may have caught the multiple-Grammy-winning Oxfam ambassadors as they trekked across the country on this summer’s “Mylo Xyloto” tour. Coldplay invited Oxfam America volunteers to join them at every date as a way to spread the word about Oxfam’s GROW Campaign for food justice.

Nearly 600 volunteers joined Coldplay at 28 concerts from coast to coast. Some even took the plunge and dressed up in food costumes, which served as a great conversation starter and helped draw attention to the cause. Thanks to the volunteers’ efforts, 13,000 new US supporters took Oxfam’s GROW pledge this summer. They’ll now be part of the Oxfam community, and will have the opportunity to take action against hunger and tell companies and governments to make our food system fairer for everyone. And that’s an accomplishment well worth celebrating—taco suit not required.

A few days ago, I blogged here about the incredible outpouring of support for Oxfam America’s earthquake recovery and relief work in Haiti from friends in the music industry. Artists, bands, managers, labels, radio stations and others in the business pitched in quickly to get the word out that we already had about staffers on the ground there, and that donations were needed to make sure we could use all resources possible to get working on delivering clean water and assessing sanitation issues quickly.

I’m pleased to see that the support hasn’t waned a bit since then. In fact, interest in our work with musicians related to Haiti relief has actually become a point of interest, as the media has started to look for interesting angles to keep their viewers, readers, and listeners tuned-in. I did a handful of interviews with radio stations this week, and every single host had heard about our work first through a musical artist that they were fans of. Proof that our alliances with folks like Chris Martin and Coldplay, who pledged money and support to our relief work in Haiti early-on is extremely meaningful.

And speaking of music artists and donations, State Radio are actually stopping their shows on their current tour to encourage fans to get their cellphones out to text the word OXFAM to 25383 to make a one-time $10 donation to Oxfam’s Haiti Response Fund.

State Radio's Chad Stokes and Sybil Gallagher from Calling All Crows, State Radio's charitable organization. Photo by Jessica Erickson/Oxfam America.

Need further encouragement to do the same yourself? Hear it directly from State Radio’s Chad Stokes.

Feel free to share the above video on your Facebook, Twitter, blog, or anywhere else you think might be helpful. After all, it’s not just rock stars and musicians that Haiti needs help from, it’s you, too.

It’s been mentioned before on this blog that the motto of Oxfam America’s concert outreach work is “We Believe Music Can Change The World.”  That motto has never seemed so true to me as it did in the middle of the night last night.

I normally work from my home office just outside of New York City, but I happen to be in Boston on a regularly scheduled trip to Oxfam’s HQ.  As my workday ended yesterday and I was leaving the office, I noticed a breaking news alert on the TV in Oxfam’s lobby, announcing the first reports of yesterday’s devastating earthquake in Haiti.  Having friends and colleagues in and around Port-au-Prince, I was shocked and saddened to hear the news.

I made my way back to the hotel, and rather than decompress with my normal regimen of bad food and even worse TV, I was glued to CNN’s reporting on the situation in Haiti.  Because most power was out and night had already fallen there, details were few, and sadly, mostly grim.

By 9:00pm, my cell phone started buzzing with texts and calls from friends of Oxfam in the music world.   Bands were asking me how they could lend a hand.

Mike McColgan from Street Dogs shows his support by wearing his Oxfam shirt at the Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey. Photo by: Lindsey Anderson.

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