The Lifeblood of a Boutique Festival: Local Crew
Behind every successful boutique festival is a dedicated local crew. While star performers and dazzling attractions draw crowds, it’s the reliable hands behind the scenes that truly make the magic happen. Festivals large and small depend on armies of staff and volunteers to build stages, manage logistics, ensure safety, and create a seamless experience. Some events even have nearly as many crew members as attendees – for instance, the Oregon Country Fair in the U.S. hosts around 35,000 visitors but engages roughly 15,000 volunteers and staff who keep the event running (and the after-hours celebration alive) (therollingpack.com). This kind of loyal, local workforce doesn’t just appear overnight; it’s cultivated through careful training, hiring, and retention strategies over years.
For boutique festivals – those smaller, niche, often community-focused events – building a strong local crew pipeline is especially crucial. Unlike major corporate festivals that can parachute in professional crews, independent festivals usually thrive on local energy, community knowledge, and tight budgets. Investing in local talent not only fills essential roles but also creates an event family that comes back year after year. The result? A festival that runs smoother, feels more authentic, and has a secret advantage that even bigger festivals envy.
What follows is seasoned advice on developing your local festival crew pipeline. These insights cover how to train newcomers, hire effectively, and keep your best people coming back. Whether you’re running a 500-person community food fest or a 50,000-strong music festival, these principles apply – with a focus on the boutique scale where every team member wears many hats. Let’s dive into proven tactics, real examples from festivals around the world, and lessons learned from both triumphs and the occasional disaster.
Partner with Schools and Makerspaces for Fresh Talent
One of the smartest ways to bring in new talent is to tap into schools, universities, and makerspaces in your local area. Students and young enthusiasts are often eager to break into the events industry, and your festival can be their launchpad. By partnering with educational institutions and creative community workshops, you create a win-win pipeline: the festival gains energetic helpers who are learning the ropes, and the students get invaluable real-world experience.
High schools, colleges, and trade schools can supply volunteers or interns for entry-level roles:
– Event management and hospitality programs can connect you with students to assist in operations, guest services, or hospitality.
– Technical institutes or vocational schools (media, sound engineering, lighting, IT) often have learners keen to shadow professionals and help with AV, stage setup, or production tech.
– Arts and design schools may have students skilled in graphic design, decor, or even costume design who can contribute to festival visuals.
For example, Canterbury Festival (a boutique arts festival in the UK) collaborated with a local college to give 50 media students hands-on roles during the event (canterburyfestival.co.uk). Students in journalism, photography, and film worked on live event coverage – from creating podcasts and documentaries to interviewing artists – all under the guidance of their course leaders and festival staff (canterburyfestival.co.uk). This kind of partnership not only offered students real experience (and a great resume entry) but also provided the festival with fresh content and coverage. Think about that: your festival could simultaneously solve staffing needs and generate buzz by having media students produce blogs, videos or social media content during the event.
Makerspaces and community workshops are another goldmine for talent. These are hubs where DIY enthusiasts, engineers, and artists gather – exactly the kind of people who might love to help build art installations, staging, or interactive experiences for your festival. If your festival has a creative build aspect (stages, decor, art cars, etc.), consider reaching out to local maker communities. A small electronic music festival in California did this by inviting members of a local makerspace to help construct LED installations and stage designs – the makers got a cool project (and festival passes), and the organiser gained skilled hands for the cost of materials and some hospitality. Even if it’s informal, fostering ties with makers can infuse your event with extra creativity and manpower.
Case Study: NH7 Weekender (India). This popular music festival has made a point to engage local college students as volunteers. In 2019, over 100 students from Pune and surrounding areas signed up to work at the festival, assisting with everything from marketing to stage management (indianexpress.com). They weren’t paid, but they gained backstage access and the thrill of working alongside their favorite artists (indianexpress.com). Many of those students put studies or other jobs on hold just to be part of the fest – a testament to how appealing a well-structured volunteer opportunity can be. The organiser, Only Much Louder (OML), effectively created a pipeline of young fans who learned the festival’s operations and often returned in subsequent years. While not every festival should rely on unpaid labor (more on paying people fairly next), NH7’s approach shows the enthusiasm you can unlock via local schools and youth networks. The key is to make the experience rewarding (access, learning, fun) even if it’s entry-level.
Tips for engaging schools and makerspaces:
– Offer course credit or acknowledgement. Work with faculty to structure volunteer gigs as internships or class credit projects. A formal letter of recommendation or a certificate from your festival can also go a long way.
– Start a “Festival Ambassador” program. Recruit student ambassadors on campus to spread the word about volunteering at your event. They can help identify peers who are passionate and reliable.
– Host workshops or talks. Before the festival, send your production team or stage managers to give a talk at the local college or makerspace about festival work. It generates interest and primes candidates on what to expect.
– Be inclusive and diverse. Don’t just fish in the big universities – community colleges, technical institutes, and even high schools (for non-alcohol events or daytime cultural festivals) can be included. Cast a wide net in your community.
By seeding your team with eager local learners, you cultivate a farm team for your festival – a steady flow of new recruits already acquainted with your event’s culture and standards.
Offer Paid Internships and Mentorship Programs
While volunteers are great, there’s nothing like paid internships and structured mentorship to attract committed crew members and build skills for the long term. Paid positions show that you value people’s time and talent. Even if the stipend is modest, the professional signal it sends is important: crew members are more likely to treat the work seriously and stick around when they feel valued as employees or mentees rather than free labor.
Internships can be seasonal roles leading up to and during the festival:
– For example, you might have a summer internship for an event production assistant, who works with your production manager to learn scheduling, vendor coordination, and site operations.
– A marketing internship could bring on a local social media whiz or marketing student to help with promotions in exchange for a small weekly pay and all-access festival experience.
– A technical internship might partner an audio engineering student with your sound crew, giving them hands-on experience with real stage setups.
Many renowned festivals leverage internships. The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), for instance, recruits a large team of interns and co-op students each year in departments like programming, hospitality, and technical production – these interns often end up with jobs in the arts world later. Closer to music, consider a festival like Bonnaroo (USA) which, though huge now, started by heavily relying on passionate junior staff who were mentored into bigger roles over time. Several Bonnaroo production leads began as college interns or volunteers in the early years, learning the craft and then being hired as the festival grew (a story common across many long-running events).
A mentorship program goes hand-in-hand with internships. Pair up newcomers with your seasoned crew leaders:
– Assign each intern or entry-level crew member a mentor (a veteran stage manager, a lead decorator, a ticketing manager, etc.).
– Set clear goals: the mentor teaches specific skills (e.g., how to operate lighting boards, or how to handle artist hospitality) and the mentee shadows and assists.
– Check in regularly – maybe a brief meeting each day of the festival or a debrief afterward – so knowledge is actually being transferred.
This approach pays off hugely in crew development. Festivals that have done this, like Montreal Jazz Fest and Glastonbury, find that their intern alumni often become core staff. In fact, some festivals essentially “grow their own” talent: an intern might return next year as a paid coordinator, then a few years later as a department head.
A mentorship culture also boosts morale. People love to feel they are learning and advancing. Plus, it fosters loyalty – if you know the festival took the time to train you, you’re more likely to come back and give back in future editions.
Real-world lesson: always treat internships as a two-way street. An intern isn’t just cheap labor; they’re a potential future producer or production manager. One notable failure was the approach of Fyre Festival (2017) – they brought in lots of eager folks but provided virtually no experienced guidance or structure. The result was chaos, as junior staff had “no clue what they were doing” and no mentors to turn to (www.bbc.co.uk). Compare that to a well-run event where a newbie can quickly ask a mentor for help. A bit of investment in training can prevent catastrophes.
Also, pay your interns if at all possible – even if it’s a stipend or travel and meals. Not only is it fair, it also widens the pool of who can afford to participate (making your crew more diverse and talented). Some governments or arts councils offer grants or subsidies for internships in events; seek those out to help fund these roles.
Track Reliability and Promote Rising Stars Quickly
If you’ve done the work to train and recruit a local crew, the next step is crucial: identify the stars and move them up the ranks. In festival operations, as in any team, a minority of people often account for the majority of the success – those super-reliable, proactive individuals who go above and beyond. When you find them, recognize and promote them fast to keep them engaged.
Firstly, implement a system to track performance and reliability:
– Keep a log of who shows up on time for shifts, who fulfills their hours, who handles responsibilities well.
– Have team leaders provide quick evaluations or notes after the event about each crew member or volunteer: e.g., Alice was great under pressure at the info booth, or Bob missed two shifts without notice.
– Use tools or simple spreadsheets to record this. Some festivals use volunteer management software or even the Ticket Fairy platform’s crew management features to rate reliability (which helps with scheduling next time).
Why do this? Because next event, you’ll know exactly who to invite back or hire in a bigger role. Consistency is king – a volunteer who’s worked out well three festivals in a row is a prime candidate to become an area supervisor or a paid crew chief. And promoting from within not only fills your higher positions with people who already know the festival, it also motivates the entire crew. Everyone sees that hard work can lead to more trust and possibly paid employment.
Consider the Woodford Folk Festival in Australia, which hosts around 2,700 volunteers annually (huge for a boutique festival). Their volunteer manager notes that they evaluate volunteers after each festival and slot them into roles that best fit their skills if they return (australianregionalevents.com.au). A shy but detail-oriented volunteer, for example, might be moved from a generic role to a more technical backstage job next year, where they thrive and feel valued. Woodford’s team also emphasizes training and having department heads mentor their volunteers, which creates a path for the most dedicated folks to eventually become department heads themselves (australianregionalevents.com.au) (australianregionalevents.com.au).
Another concrete tactic is adjusting how you treat returning crew versus newcomers. Many festivals reward loyalty. The UK’s Boomtown Fair does this in a simple but smart way for volunteers: new volunteers pay a higher deposit (which they get back after completing shifts), whereas returning volunteers who have proven reliable pay a much smaller deposit (www.tonicmusic.co.uk). This acknowledges their track record and encourages them to come back (with less money tied up). It’s essentially trust equity. Similarly, you might offer returning crew early sign-ups for preferred roles or first dibs on shift choices as a perk.
Promotion can also be symbolic. If a young intern absolutely crushed it this year, invite them to the core team wrap-up meeting, or let them lead a small project at the next event. Title changes, even unofficial ones, also mean a lot – “assistant stage manager” sounds more enticing to return to than “stagehand,” especially if they’ve earned it.
Success story: An Oxfam Festivals volunteer in the UK named Mark started as a steward in 1993 and “worked his way through the ranks” over decades (festivals.oxfam.org.uk). He eventually took on leadership roles (becoming a coordinator) and became so passionate that the festival “became part of his bloodstream” (festivals.oxfam.org.uk). Mark’s story isn’t unique – many major festival directors or operations managers began as the kid parking cars or checking wristbands. By spotting dedication early and nurturing it, you might just be shaping your future festival director.
On the flip side, don’t be afraid to cull the non-performers. If someone consistently flakes or behaves poorly, it’s actually kind to the whole team not to bring them back or to limit their responsibility. Festival work is often intense and not everyone is cut out for it. Keeping standards high reinforces that crew spots are valuable opportunities, which further motivates those who are selected.
Celebrate Your Crew – On Screens and On Socials
People will go the extra mile when they feel appreciated. One of the most powerful retention tools is recognition. In the rush of festival planning, organisers sometimes forget to celebrate the crew that makes it all happen. Don’t make that mistake – instead, turn your crew into festival heroes in the eyes of both your team and your audience.
Public shout-outs: Shine a spotlight on your crew during the event. Some festivals do a crew salute from the main stage – for instance, at the end of a multi-day festival, the MC might call up key crew leads (security, production, volunteers, etc.) or display a “thank you crew” message on the big screens. A small boutique festival in New Zealand would bring all volunteers on stage for a final bow with the headliner – cheesy for some, but the crowd cheered and those volunteers felt like rock stars for a moment. That kind of public gratitude creates a bond; crew feel seen and patrons see the human effort behind the scenes.
Big screens and signage: If you have AV capabilities, use them to celebrate the team. Loop a slideshow of crew working hard (or having fun) in between sets or on a screen by the entrance. Even a rolling text credit (“Special thanks to our Crew: Alice, Bob, Carlos…”) can mean a lot when someone spots their name. It’s like credits at the end of a movie – people love to point and say “Hey, that’s me!”
Social media praise: Extend the recognition beyond the festival grounds. Dedicate a few posts to thanking your crew on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok – wherever you engage your audience. Share photos or short profiles: “Meet the team that made our festival happen.” You can highlight outstanding individuals (“This is Priya, our 19-year-old sound assistant who volunteered through her college and kept the open mic stage running flawlessly!”) or teams (“Our build crew worked 18-hour days to transform an empty field into a wonderland – thank you!”). Tag them if possible, and encourage sharing. Not only does this make your crew feel incredible, it also signals to potential crew members that yours is a festival that values its people.
For instance, Roskilde Festival in Denmark, which relies on thousands of volunteers, gives volunteers superstar treatment. They set up a dedicated Volunteers’ Village on-site — an exclusive area with a lounge, free hot and cold drinks, phone charging stations, and even activities like morning yoga and live music just for the crew (www.roskilde-festival.dk) (www.roskilde-festival.dk). Volunteers can relax and bond there away from the crowds, and they get their own merch design each year as a badge of honor (en.wikipedia.org) (www.roskilde-festival.dk). All these perks are splashed on Roskilde’s website and socials, effectively celebrating the crew and enticing others to join. It’s no surprise Roskilde retains a huge number of veteran volunteers; they’ve built a real community.
Even smaller scale, think of ways to reward and acknowledge your team:
– Provide festival swag (t-shirts, badges) that say “CREW” or a fun inside joke from the event. These become proud mementos.
– Feed them well. Instead of the cheapest soggy sandwiches, try to arrange quality meals or food vouchers for crew. The Oregon Country Fair sets a great example: volunteers get vouchers to redeem at any gourmet food stall on site, rather than a separate bland crew kitchen – a perk that volunteers absolutely love (therollingpack.com). Good food and hot coffee can feel like a hug during a long workday.
– Throw an after-party or a crew-only event. A thank-you gathering with some drinks, music, or even a simple team circle-up at the end where everyone shares a highlight can end the festival on a high note for those who gave their sweat and time. Some festivals screen a quick informal “crew highlights” video at the after-party, full of behind-the-scenes moments and bloopers – lots of laughs and camaraderie.
– Celebrate milestones: If one of your crew has been with you for 5 years, acknowledge it (a shout-out, a plaque, a post). Same if someone got a promotion from volunteer to staff.
Remember, recognition should be timely and genuine. Acknowledge the grind during the festival (“Hey security team, amazing job managing that crowd surge today, thank you!” over the radio or in person), not just after. Little gestures daily – a round of applause at the crew briefing, or surprise ice creams on a hot setup day – keep morale high.
The effect of celebrating crews is profound: it builds loyalty and pride. Your crew will talk about how well they were treated, which in turn attracts more reliable local folks to want to work with you next time. Plus, a happy crew often means a better experience for attendees and artists, because that positivity filters through every interaction.
Talent Retention: Your Secret Advantage
All the above efforts – recruiting locally, training newcomers, promoting stars, and celebrating the team – feed into one ultimate goal: retaining talent. In the festival world, high turnover can be a killer. Each year’s event is like rebuilding a machine; if you’re bringing back many of the same “parts” (people), your machine will run smoother with each edition. Conversely, if you start from scratch with unfamiliar crew every time, you lose continuity and spend a fortune of time training people afresh.
For boutique festivals especially, long-term crew retention is a secret competitive advantage. Here’s why:
– Experience = Efficiency. A stage manager who’s run your stage for five years knows all the quirks of the venue, the gear, and the schedule. Experienced crew anticipate problems before they happen. They need less supervision, and they can train the next batch of rookies. This means your planning meetings are shorter and crises are fewer. It’s no coincidence that festivals known for smooth operations often have core crews intact for a decade or more.
– Culture and Cohesion. When people come back year after year, you’re not just retaining skills – you’re building a family. That sense of belonging and tradition can become part of your festival’s identity. Fans pick up on it too; a tight-knit, enthusiastic crew creates a welcoming vibe. As Mark (the Oxfam volunteer-turned-coordinator) noted, the crew community can become “like a family” that people cherish as much as the festival itself (festivals.oxfam.org.uk). If your crew love the event deeply, that energy radiates outward and elevates the whole atmosphere.
– Community support. A locally grown crew often overlaps with your attendee base or community stakeholders. They’ll be your ambassadors in the off-season – talking up the festival, defending it, bringing friends next time. In rural or small-town festivals, many volunteers might also be local residents; treating them well wins you goodwill with the town (useful when you need permits or sponsors).
– Innovation and ownership. Retained crew feel a sense of ownership in the festival and often bring forward great ideas to improve it. Since they aren’t one-and-done contractors, they care about long-term outcomes. They might suggest ways to streamline entry, new side events, or cost-saving measures because they’re invested in the festival’s success. You essentially have a built-in think tank of people who know your event inside-out.
On the flip side, the pitfalls of not retaining talent were exemplified by the disastrous Fyre Festival. They not only lacked veterans on their team, but also burned bridges with the local workforce. In the Bahamas where it was held, Fyre Festival failed to pay or respect the local labourers and suppliers, resulting in a huge loss of community trust and even local livelihoods (www.bbc.co.uk). After that kind of breach, no one would ever want to work with those promoters again. It’s an extreme case, but it underlines a simple truth: how you treat your crew this year affects who will (or won’t) work with you next year.
Practical steps for retention:
– Conduct post-festival debriefs with your crew. Solicit their feedback and genuinely listen. Implement reasonable suggestions by next year – when people see their feedback heard, they feel valued and are more likely to return.
– Keep in touch in the off-season. Send out a crew newsletter or occasional updates (“Hope you’re doing well – we’re already cooking up exciting plans for next year!”). This keeps the community vibe alive year-round.
– Provide pathways for growth. Stagnation can cause even loyal folks to drift away. So create new roles, offer additional training (maybe send key crew to a crowd safety workshop or leadership seminar), and keep people growing with the festival.
– Acknowledge endurance. If someone has been with you since day one, celebrate that publicly. It sets an example that this festival is a long-term journey one can be proud to be part of.
– Use technology to your advantage. A platform like Ticket Fairy (the one this article is on!) can help streamline communications and shift scheduling for crew, making their experience more organized and less chaotic – indirectly boosting satisfaction. When crew receive timely info, easy check-ins, or even digital credentials, it shows professionalism that they’ll appreciate.
In summary, think of your crew like an extended family that you want to keep together. Retention isn’t about avoiding effort to train newbies; it’s about compounding expertise. Each year a person returns, their contribution grows exponentially more valuable. After a few years, you’ll have key people you can practically trust with your eyes closed – what a relief that is for an overworked festival producer! And as those stars rise, they’ll mentor the next generation, keeping the cycle going.
By focusing on training locals, hiring smart, and cultivating loyalty, even a small boutique festival can build a powerhouse team. You might not have the bankroll of a Coachella or Tomorrowland, but you’ll have something even harder to replicate: a crew that treats the festival as their own. In an industry where so much can go wrong, having that homegrown reliability and passion on your side is the ultimate secret weapon.
Key Takeaways
- Build Local Partnerships: Collaborate with schools, colleges, and makerspaces to recruit entry-level festival crew. Tap into students and young talent looking for experience; they can become the backbone of your crew pipeline if nurtured well.
- Invest in Training & Mentorship: Don’t just use volunteers – train them. Offer paid internships where possible and pair newbies with veteran mentors. Festivals that teach their crew new skills get more competent teams and breed loyalty.
- Recognize Reliability and Promote from Within: Track who shines in your crew. Quickly elevate reliable volunteers to positions of greater responsibility or paid roles. Show that commitment is rewarded – it motivates everyone and retains your rising stars.
- Celebrate and Reward Your Crew: Make your team feel valued through public thank-yous, social media spotlights, perks like good food, merch, or a dedicated chill space. A crew that’s appreciated will go above and beyond (and likely come back next year).
- Focus on Retention for Long-Term Benefits: Continuity is king. Keeping experienced crew members year after year means smoother operations, a stronger community vibe, and a treasure trove of knowledge that improves your festival over time.
- Stay Community-Focused: Remember that many crew, especially in boutique festivals, come from your local community. Engaging and respecting them not only ensures they return, but turns them into passionate ambassadors who spread the word about your event.
- Learn from Successes and Failures: Study how established festivals manage their crews – take inspiration from those with loyal volunteer armies, and heed warnings from events that faltered due to staffing issues. Adapt those lessons to your festival’s scale and culture.
- Be Organised and Empathetic: Plan thoroughly for your crew’s needs (clear communication, proper training, rest breaks, amenities) and lead with empathy. When your crew feels supported and informed, they can perform at their best and help deliver an unforgettable experience for everyone.
Remember, festivals are ephemeral – they light up for a weekend and then are gone. But the crew, if you build it right, is the enduring thread from year to year. By training, hiring, and keeping your local talent, you’re not just putting on an event; you’re cultivating a community and legacy that will amplify your festival’s success for years to come.
25th August 2025