Welcome
Thanks for your interest in contributing to the Buddhafield Accessibility Team. Our theme for 2024 is With Arms Wide Open. The festival will run from Wednesday 17th July to Sunday 21st July.
Due to the demand for and success of last year’s accessibility service, the accessibility team is expanding again this year. This means we can provide a service of helping people with their camping gear and luggage for most of the time that the gate is open i.e. 10.30am to 9pm.
This year we are looking for five Access Team members
There will be two people doing the two main jobs for about five hours each day on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, as well as Monday morning, with cover probably by arrangement on Saturday and Monday afternoon.
This means approximately 25-30 hours of work over the period of the festival.
In return, we offer:
- A ticket to the festival
- Any vehicle pass that you need
- A live-in or camping spot
- Any children’s passes (0-17yrs) that you need
- Three vegan meals a day throughout the event
- Unlimited access to hot drinks throughout the event
- The chance to work as part of a meaningful, supportive team and experience community in a field
- Daily morning meetings at 9.30am with a short meditation, check-ins, problem-solving and some Dharma input from an order member
We need five volunteers who will work on each day. Two of these will be drivers, and two of these will be Access Managers, and these will alternate with each other between the two shifts. We'll negotiate shift patterns as a team beforehand so everyone gets decent time off as well as time working. The fifth person will be there to help generally, mainly with putting up tents for people and taking them down again at the end of the festival.
All these jobs need someone who can fully commit to them and be reliable. They are key positions that festival goers will be relying on. There will be some training get-togethers on Zoom before the festival. We will be a small team and therefore need to depend on each other.
The specifics of each position are below.
Drivers
You will need to be very competent and careful drivers as half the time you will be driving contra to the main flow amongst pedestrians and other traffic. The ground may not always be at its best, depending on the weather.
You will be driving a Buddhafield vehicle, but if you have a four-wheel drive vehicle that you would be happy to use on the festival site we would be very grateful for the backup at the busiest times. We would reimburse fuel costs in this case, and you would be covered by Buddhafield insurance onsite.
You will need to be able to help people kindly and be respectful about not taking over if people want to be independent. Most people will probably be very glad to let you do the lifting etc, but we are all different. When guests arrive, they are often stressed from their journeys and worried about where they will set up camp etc.
Your customers will be mainly disabled people, so familiarity with the fact that all disabilities are not visible will be useful. Also, our older guests may need assistance, as may parents with babies or toddlers. Regardless of these groups, if someone asks us for help, then we do our best to assist them.
Access Managers
To work with the driver on duty and do what you can to assist them, such as communicating with stewards on the route and at the gate.
To go where you feel you are most effective. This could be, for example:
- Being up near the ticket office on Wednesday and Thursday to ensure smooth arrivals of people with accessible needs which means good communication with ticket office staff and stewards. We will have our own office hub next door to production, where I am hoping we can make a drink for people waiting for our transport service and sit them under cover if needed.
- Be in the vehicle with the drivers when they do their first runs until they are familiar with the route and routine. This means that they can concentrate on driving whilst you communicate with the stewards along the route and familiarise the stewards with what the vehicle is doing.
- Be at the Welfare tent in case there are any accessibility issues there.
- Checking on the condition of the accessible toilets and reporting back any issues
- Liaising with the Access Officer, if there are any problems
Where you spend your time will to a large extent, be guided by the stages of the festival. Experience as a carer would be very useful, as would a calm and mature demeanour and the ability to take responsibility if issues arise. If there are too many demands on the driver’s time, then it will be your responsibility to make sure that they take sufficient breaks to stay driving safely and communicate with guests accordingly.
General helper and tent assistant
One person, preferably with some of the attributes described in the roles above, to aid people with their tents and luggage. If you have the requisite skills, you could also do some driving at times. You will probably be working 11-5 with a lunch break, but your flexibility will help us all.
Applications will close on 31st May. We will start processing applications from that date. We won't be able to comment on the progress of your application until after then, so please be patient. You can log in to your eventree account anytime to view your application details. We will contact you to offer you a slot or to let you know you have been unsuccessful.
If we receive a high volume of applications, we may close submissions early, so please apply straight away for the best chance to be considered.