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Volunteering is the canny way to get involved in festivals and big events – but it's not just about bagging free tickets, writes FIONA REDDAN

IT’S SUMMERTIME – at least the calendar says so if not the thermometer — and with it comes a plethora of festivals which will take place all over the country. From the Galway Arts Festival, to the Rose of Tralee to Castlepalooza, summertime offers culture vultures and booze hounds buckets of choice. But, while some events, such as Dublin Culture Night, may be free, most others carry steep admission charges. For example, a weekend pass to the Electric Picnic comes in at €240 this year.

So, if you have the time, but not the money to attend all these events, could volunteering be the option for you? After all, it is the European Year of the Volunteer.

Volunteers are the lifeblood of many a festival, particularly given the cut-backs on funding to the arts. Indeed many festivals would not survive without the input of volunteers. Dublin’s Culture Night – which attracted over 150,000 visitors last year in 132 venues – is organised by just six full-time staff, which makes the contribution of 100 volunteers crucial.

For Lorraine Maye, deputy head of cultural development at the Temple Bar Cultural Trust which organises the evening, it couldn’t go ahead without their input. “They’re a really critical part of the team,” she says.

This year, the event will take place on September 23rd, and volunteers can express their interest in taking part from August. While the event was actually over-subscribed last year in terms of volunteers, Maye says that no-one is turned away.

“We always use as many volunteers as contact us, there’s always a job to be done that a volunteer can help with,” she says.

At the almost effortlessly cool Electric Picnic, the contribution from volunteers has been steadily growing over the past few years, with just 60 involved in 2008 and 250 last year. This year, over a thousand people have applied to volunteer for 250 places, says Catherine Kehoe, volunteer co-ordinator for the music festival, which will take place in Stradbally, Co Laois in September.

While the recruitment process, which is conducted via electricpicnic.ie, has currently closed, it may open again at the end of June if there are still vacancies on the teams. And there is now a dedicated core of volunteers ready to freely give their time and energies to supporting an event. In general, volunteers need to be over 18 years old, and, while the majority tend to be aged between 18 and 30, there is usually no upper age limit.

“It’s really important to have a broad age range,” says Maye of Dublin Culture Night, where volunteers from “18-80” participate.

At Electric Picnic, volunteers either work as “advance” volunteers, in the run-up to the event, or over the weekend itself.

“Last year we had a father and his son (in his mid-20s) volunteering over the weekend and they are back again this year,” says Kehoe.

Gisela Boehnisch has volunteered for several festivals in Ireland, including the Dublin Film Festival, Dublin Theatre Festival, Festival of World Cultures as well as the Galway and Guth Gafa film festivals. For her, volunteering is an alternative way of enjoying a festival experience.

“Volunteering is a great way of getting a look behind the scenes, getting to know like-minded people and it feels great to help make an event a success and seeing patrons enjoy themselves,” she says.

Mary Dowling works at the Chester Beatty Library by day, but has also volunteered at events ranging from Dublin Culture Night, to the Jameson International Film Festival, to Open House, the architectural showcase and the Dublin Fringe Festival.

For last year’s Culture Night, she spent the night on a bus on the quays, bringing people up and down to the Guinness Storehouse, and for her, the attraction in volunteering for cultural events lies in the “atmosphere and spirit, of knowing that you’re part of something”.

“It’s well worth it, you get to meet so many different people,” she says.

But what will you have to do? It depends. At the Galway Arts Festival, for example, volunteers can be asked to work in one of several areas, including front of house (collecting tickets in venues and dealing with customers), stewarding at outdoor performances including the Macnas parade, administration, stewarding at visual art exhibitions, audience research, brochure distribution and other areas.

At the Fleadh in Cavan, you might be a steward or marshall for crowd control at one of the competiton events, and you only have to commit to a few hours – not the whole week.

Castlepalooza in Co Offaly is looking for people to work as artist liaisons, hospitality, stage and PR assistants, while Dublin Culture Night uses volunteers as guides on the buses, assisting at information points and distributing flyers.

There can be some perks. In addition to getting access to the event when you’re not working, you might get free t-shirts, food, or in the case of Dublin Culture Night, a wrap party at the end.

At the Rose of Tralee festival, volunteers get access to the food hall while on their breaks, and they get a chance to win the Volunteer of the Festival award, and participate in the end of festival party.

In Boehnisch’s experience, most events let you pick a job that suits your interests or skills whenever possible. She has worked in jobs from ushering, to selling merchandise or helping at the information booth.

If you are interested in getting involved, remember that volunteering does involve work and isn’t just a free pass to the event.

“Festival volunteering can be a lot of fun but you also need to stick to your schedule and put the hours in,” says Boehnisch, pointing out that if you don’t follow the rules you may not be asked back again, or you won’t get access to benefits such as free food and access to the shows.

“Most people are responsible though and understand that festivals, most of which are run by non-profit organisations, rely on responsible volunteers to do their share,” she adds.

However, some event organisers look for a monetary commitment. At the Electric Picnic for example, weekend volunteers are asked to pay a “bond” to the value of the ticket, which is reimbursed after the festival in late September/early October, on completion of the shifts that they have been scheduled into.

“Mostly we have been really lucky in previous years with great people volunteering on the teams. They have been enthusiastic and turn up for shifts on time and are a valuable asset to the festival,” says Kehoe. But if you don’t show up and work, you won’t get your money back.

Similarly, it is festivals which do fulfill their part of the equation and don’t take advantage of volunteers’ goodwill which are looked on the most kindly – and therefore more likely to get volunteers to re-apply in subsequent years.

“Those events that do not treat volunteers as free labour but see and appreciate them as an invaluable asset and an integral part of the festival team are generally the most fun to work at,” says Boehnisch.

Get volunteering!

ELECTRIC PICNIC September 2nd-4th

electricpicnic.ie

ROSE OF TRALEE FESTIVAL August 19th-23rd

roseoftralee.ie

KILKENNY ARTS FESTIVAL August 5th-14th,

kilkennyarts.ie

GALWAY ARTS FESTIVAL July 11th-24th

galwayartsfestival.com

WATERFORD TALL SHIPS RACE June 30th-July 3rd,

waterfordtallshipsrace.com

NATIONAL HERITAGE WEEK August 20th-28th,

heritageweek.ie

MOUNTAINS TO SEA BOOK FESTIVAL, September 1st-11th,

mountainstosea.ie

FLEADH 2011 August 13th-22nd,

fleadh2011cavan.ie

CASTLEPALOOZA July 29th-31st,

castlepalooza.com

GALWAY FILM FLEADH July 5th-10th,

galwayfilmfleadh.com

DUBLIN CULTURE NIGHT September 23rd,

culturenight.ie

DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL September 10th-25th,

fringefest.com

DUBLIN THEATRE FESTIVAL September 29th–October 16th

dublintheatrefestival.com