Volunteer Information

The Cygnet Folk Festival needs a lot of great people to run!

The Cygnet Folk Festival is a non-profit event run by the community for the community.

It is the aim of the organisers to provide fantastic entertainment for the enjoyment of the Cygnet community (which includes anyone who is there on the day, irrespective of where you're from) with ticketed workshops, concerts as many free events as is practical. We are completely dependent on volunteers to make this all happen, as our budget simply cannot support paid staff.

The festival organisers are all unpaid and all started as volunteers of previous festivals, and they can assure you that being on the ‘inside’ of the weekend’s events is extremely rewarding!

In the past we haven't been able to give our volunteers a lot of support, but as part of growing the event, this year we are formalising the position descriptions somewhat and giving the volunteers more attention and guidance. You can download the position descriptions as pdf files to get an idea of the tasks that are involved. We hope you will be interested in taking on one of these tasks to help you gain experience in running a community event or to share the experience and expertise you already have.

Then go to our online volunteers registration page and register your interest in becoming involved. Registrations are now open for January 2011.

Thank you!

We want to say again, just how much we have appreciated the magnificent resources and effort that our volunteers have given to the Festival in the past, when we were vague about your roles and responsibilities and provided nothing much but a pass for the weekend. So many of you brought incredible levels of inventiveness, maturity and initiative to the job and it is your efforts that have given the Festival the friendly face that it is renowned for.

We need you again!

The Festival needs around 180 volunteers to make it operate over the course of the weekend. Volunteer jobs are varied: some are very involved, while others are quite straightforward, some are physical and others are more administrative.

Some examples of volunteer jobs are:

• Selling tickets and merchandise at the box office or at the venues
• Dressing up the town, the venues and Loongana park
• Helping to load in gear and set up the venues
• Being on the doors of the concert and workshop venues
• Stage managing individual concerts
• Housing some of the visiting musicians for the weekend
• Transporting interstate performers down from and back to the airport ...and many more....

The festival's fantastic reputation rests on our enthusiastic, resourceful, friendly volunteers: some come back to help year after year and their experience and loyalty is inspiring. Others just happen to be coming down to Tassie or down from Hobart and bring new energy, talents and experience from other events. Everyone's contribution is valuable!

We ask you for 12 hours of work and in return we give our volunteers a weekend pass, free camping and access to the volunteers' green room.

If you tell us you would like to do your voluntary hours on the Monday morning after the festival, you are required to buy a ticket and the money will be refunded to you after the clean up.

If you don't feel confident to take on any of these larger roles, don't worry - there are dozens of other jobs to be done over the Festival weekend, so just register your interest in being a volunteer and we'll be in touch to discuss what will suit you best.

Position description downloads
Click on the links in these summaries to download a pdf of the job description for the volunteer position.

The biggest difference this year is that we are changing the way the venues are run.

Venue Coordinators
We are looking for Venue Co-ordinators to be responsible for the dressing, setting up and running of venues over the course of the weekend and to lead a team of venue volunteers. Download a Venue Coordinator description here. If you are interested in this role, we will discuss with you by email, phone or face to face the best options for you. You are welcome to form your own venue team from among your friends. Please be aware that this role is for significantly more than 12 hours however some of your costs will be covered.

Venue team volunteers
We are looking for people to be part of the Venue Teams, reporting to the Venue Coordinator. Your team would be responsible for dressing up your venue, being part of the roster for staffing the door of the venue during the course of the weekend and packing down the venue on Monday morning.

We are also looking for people willing to take on some of the more complicated administrative tasks such as:

Team Leader
The Festival volunteers run a number of smaller teams that are responsible for a range of roles and responsibilities over the weekend of the Festival. If you enjoy leading a group of dedicated people to solve problems download the Team Leader job description pdf and express an interest at our Volunteer registration online.

Accommodation Coordinator
Your role is to find local billets and allocate them to the interstate performers. A good knowledge of the Cygnet area in terms of geography and the community is essential for the Accommodation Coordinator. This role requires a lot of work in advance of the festival.

Transport Coordinator
Your role is to sort out the shuttle bus and transport for performers and production people; to get them down from the airport to Cygnet and then back again when the festival is over. It is likely that the Transport Coordinator will be required to do some driving themselves so access to a vehicle and a current drivers licence is essential for the Transport Coordinator.

Licencing Manager
In line with industry standard practices, the Festival is required to obtain a number of permits and licences each year. We're looking for a Licencing Manager to liaise with the Huon Valley Council and state government agencies to obtain the necessary approvals we need to run the festival. The proceedures are routine and requires the main body of work to be completed well in advance of the festival so apply NOW for this role.

Database Manager
The Festival now boasts and excellent database to manage our performers' information and contracting, the volunteers' information and a host of other administrative resources. Download a pdf description of the Database Manager position if you have the skills and the time to take this on.

Volunteer registrations online
If you are interested in volunteering to be part of the festival, go to our online registration page and register your interest as soon as you can: registrations are open for the 2011 festival now.
Register here!

If you are unable to register online, email us.