Volunteering: Behind the Scenes

REGULAR PRE-SHOW TASKS

(See Who’s Who for names of who does what, and a list of our Board of Directors)

Artistic Director

  • Coordinates booking of main acts with the assistance of a booking committee.
  • Negotiates the details of the contract.

Performer Liaison

Once the main acts are booked, PL takes care of signing and returning contracts. For opening acts, we don’t use contracts, but PL sends a “letter of agreement” with all pertinent information. Before each show, the Performer Liaison:

  • Confirms with main & opening acts: arrival time, show time, length of show, details of contract
  • For CWB, confirms they’ll play without sound system.
  • For other sites, has main act arrive 2 hours before doors open and opening act 1 hour before doors open for sound check (later ok if it’s a solo act or easy sound check)
  • Finds out housing needs and lets housing host coordinator know
  • Sends directions
  • Takes care of any special needs
  • Lets show manager, asst manager, and host know what performer’s plans are
  • Gives a copy of the contract to the show manager
  • Gives a copy of performer bio to emcee

At-Show Volunteer Coordinator

  • Lines up all show-night volunteers
  • Posts to abcd-l a list of volunteers for each show
  • Show manager then confirms with each volunteer the week of the show.

Baking Volunteer Coordinator

  • Lines up people to bake for each show.
  • Posts the list to abcd-l.
  • We need 1 baker for every 20-25 audience members.

Host Coordinator

  • Lines up people to host performers.

Ticket Manager

  • Prints and distributes tickets to ticket outlets
  • Calls ticket outlets mid-week and show morning to check on ticket sales
  • Tracks ticket sales and payments to outlets

Publicity

  • Post to Brewlist/Facebook/Twitter/Website to advertise show
  • Gets copy of main and opener bios to emcee
  • Calls Folk DJ before folk calendar with ticket status
  • Send press releases with photos to local newspapers for each show
  • For larger shows, or those where ticket sales are lagging, post artist’s promo material in local shops & PSU bulletin boards.
  • Design and print season postcard and show posters

Website Manager

  • Interface with hosting service (ISP) on any website issues.
  • Maintain domain name registration, and ISP account(s)
  • Update website each season and as needed during the season
  • Manage E-Tix site
  • Manage Paypal payment site
  • Manage Contact Us page and php scripts used by patrons and others to send mail to volunteers.

Opening Act Coordinator

    • Selects and books opening acts with the assistance of a booking committee.
    • Negotiates details of the contract.

a listening place