Festivals as a Way of Life

It happened a few years ago when I was living in Dublin: I fell in love with the Festival of World Cultures. The following year I was browsing their website and found the volunteer section. Why not give it a go, I thought, and signed up. A few months later Life is a Festival was born. Ever since my first experience as a festival volunteer I’ve been hooked. ‘Festival’ became a magical word for me, a sort of road sign to a place called Being Happy. My new passion was like a favourite piece of clothing, I took it with me everywhere I went. From a jazz festival in New Zealand, a Japanese street festival in Vancouver to a documentary festival in Donegal I worked at any event that intrigued me and absolutely loved it.

Sometimes people ask why I would ‘work for free’. It wouldn’t even occur to me to see volunteering that way. In fact it’s a win win situation for everyone. Festivals get enthusiastic helpers while volunteers get to attend events and often get an exclusive behind the scenes look. At really good festivals (happy to give recommendations) you feel appreciated as a valuable member of the crew. You are a sort of goodwill ambassador for the event and it shows. It helps to have a bit of an altruistic streak and to enjoy meeting new people. Having said that, if you’re more of a shy type, there are usually plenty of alternative opportunities to get involved with a festival.

So you’ve never volunteered at a festival before and aren’t sure if it’s for you? The good news is: it can be done while working a fulltime job, with a family in tow, at any age, if you’re in a wheelchair, do not own a car or are just visiting a new place for a few days. Just follow these steps: 1. Find something that interests you or simply google for upcoming festivals in your area. 2. Do they have a volunteer section on the website? Good. No? Email them anyway and offer your help. It helps to mention that you are friendly, enjoy working with people, are flexible, reliable and punctual. This is what ALL festivals are more or less looking for. 3. You get accepted. Great. You don’t? Ask them to put you on the standby list. A word of warning: give it your all but don’t over commit. Sign up for a reasonable amount of hours that fit into your schedule. Being tired and stressed doesn’t make for a great experience and you do want to have some time to actually attend events. You can always add more shifts later. Let the volunteer coordinator know if you have any special skills or experience and whether there are any artists you’d particularly like to see, but be flexible if you don’t get the exact shifts you are hoping for.

Festivals have become such a lifestyle for me that I stopped doing regular sightseeing a few years ago. Whenever I visit a new country or city I search for community centres, independent bookshops, cultural events, meetup groups for writers, co-working spaces, indie music venues, and libraries and take it from there. What interests me about travelling is how other people live, think and create. Rather than following the well-trodden tourist path, it’s so much more exciting to meet the locals and learn about cutting edge projects, such as a novel writing marathon, a 24 hour film contest or a circus in a rainforest. 

Festivals are what you make them. They are neither mindless entertainment nor boring lectures, but a living, breathing organism made up of creative people, projects and audiences who are open to learn something new, be amazed and connect with like-minded souls. Some of my best friends are people I met at festivals around the world. It’s not always easy to stay positive when we are constantly bombarded with bad news. Festivals can be a great antidote. They are their own universe, an escape from daily life or, in my case, the start of a completely new way of life. One of my goals when I started writing Life is a Festival was to keep the time between festivals as short as humanly possible and to get others excited about festivals and volunteering in the community. Both are a work in progress and I’m immensely enjoying this beautiful journey I’m on.

What are your favourite festival moments? Let us know in the comments section below. If you have any questions about festival volunteering or festival trips around the world, just drop me a line. I also offer one to one twitter coaching for musicians, writers, artists and other creative people.

@lifeisafestival

http://lifeisafestival.wordpress.com

Juggling new business start-up & full-time job!

I wouldn't recommend to anyone what I've been doing for the past 3 years unless you are fully motivated with an ultimate goal to aim for. Setting up a new business isn't easy, but doing it whilst working full-time and renovating a property from 70 miles away has given me many headaches as well as a lot of sleepless nights but it's all been worth it.

I'm very fortunate to have been given my inheritance by my father during his lifetime. As a result, I am now the proud owner of a beautiful farmhouse which originally belonged to my grandparents. It is situated on the Herefordshire/Worcestershire border, approx. 6 miles from the Malvern Hills. It is where I grew up as a child and where my father and brother still farm.

This all may sound very idyllic, but in the early 80's the property suffered a horrendous fire which nearly resulted in the family losing the whole house and the nearby farm buildings. Although a fantastic property to be given, it was derelict and in need of a great amount of love and money to make it habitable once again. Birds were able to fly freely through the house and nest on the wallpaper hanging off the walls! Last year when the plastering had finished in the bedrooms, we left the windows open so the plaster could dry more easily only to find that a swallow had made its nest in the rafters of a bedroom! We had to leave the bedroom window open through rain and wind to allow the swallows access to their nest. Luckily, they have all returned this year and found new nesting places in the farm buildings.

In 2007 renovations commenced in earnest but I soon realised that my partner and I couldn't live in such a large property with no extra income to help run it. Many ideas went through my head and I thought that holiday lets would be the answer. But as the renovations progressed, I became more and more attached to the property and the idea of living in it and enjoying the place where I remember fondly playing as a child. Holiday lets no longer seemed such a good idea. And so the idea of developing the property as a Bed and Breakfast was decided as a great compromise - we could continue to live in and enjoy the property but also by sharing it with others we could pay for the renovations and running of the house.

So plans began to transform the beautiful farmhouse into a home for ourselves and a relaxing place for Bed and Breakfast guests to visit. This has opened up a whole new world to me of not only finding out how to set up my own business, but also the Bed and Breakfast community of landladies and landlords. I have met some great people both on- and offline since starting my research and have thoroughly enjoyed the adventure because that is how I am approaching this new business. It is an adventure which I wish to enjoy and learn from.

The website landing page has recently gone live and the real website will be live once we can take some photographs of the interior - the kitchen is being fitted this month, bathrooms next month and then the carpenter can move in to finish off whilst we decorate and furnish. We still have a lot of hard work to do inside and outside, but furnishings and gardening are what I consider fun, rather than plaster dust and builders mess!

If you would like to follow our progress, please do visit the website http://www.huntlandsfarm.co.uk/