The Perpetual Music Festival Volunteer.

Volunteering to work at a music festival is often seen as route to gaining access to a popular sold-out event and is dominated by university students and younger demographics. Although the majority of volunteers only go through the experience once there are some who attend multiple events in a year and repeat the process every year, who are these perpetual volunteers.

Volunteers are an essential part of the music festival industry, and many events would not be possible without them. Volunteers who commit time to working multiple festivals year after year are highly dedicated long term experienced individuals and are always in demand by festival organisers. The recruitment and management of volunteer teams take up valuable resources of the organising entity and using the perpetual volunteer can be a welcome relief, often making up the backbone of the volunteer teams.

What is a Perpetual Festival Volunteer.
The individual who volunteers at multiple events every year is looking for more than just free entry to a music festival; they often have a professional level of commitment and experience too. Returning volunteers are well known to organisers and will always get preference for work roles or shift schedules and with wide and varied experience are often placed in volunteer team leadership positions. Some perpetual volunteers do end up getting offered full time paid roles with festival entities due to their level of experience although getting paid employment is not always a motivating factor for them.

Demographics and Who are They.
The perpetual volunteer may have paid employment but uses their entire holiday allocation for festival volunteering, alternatively those with flexible lifestyles and careers like freelancing and seasonal work are often drawn to volunteering. Once established as a perpetual volunteer they thrive on the community spirit of events and consider their collogues as an extended family. They generally have older demographics and are motivated by the sense of belonging and purpose that festival volunteering brings. It goes without saying that returning volunteers have a passion for live music and events along with getting great satisfaction from helping others and making a real contribution to their enjoyment.

Value to Music Festival Organisations.
The perpetual volunteer is highly regarded by organisers enabling them to delegate roles and shifts safe in the knowledge that the individual has the experience and personality to get tasks done in a timely manner. They make ideal candidates for team leader roles and for managing new volunteer crews saving organisers from finding management roles through lengthy formal processes. In addition, they make ideal trainers and mentors for newly recruited volunteers attending their first festival. From an operational perspective perpetual volunteers are great at identifying problems and resolving issues before they escalate making them a valuable asset as well as contributing to the smooth running of events.

Managing Perpetual Volunteers.
Given the value of these individuals to festival organisers a formal process for recognition and reward should be implemented. This could include upgraded accommodation options and backstage access for example. These initiatives will help keep the volunteer returning year after year and for those interested, can form part of a formal career path that leads to a permanent paid role, perhaps as the person responsible for the recruitment and training of volunteer teams for future events. It is essential to maintain ongoing communication with this type of volunteer during the closed season with regular updates on plans for future events along with proposed developments and improvements that organisers have for their volunteer teams.

For festival organisers planning their next event using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics including a dedicated volunteer management module. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, site planning, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

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