Available Positions
Which job best suits you?
Listed below are just a few jobs available to volunteer staff at MusicFest Canada. On receipt of your volunteer application, we'll contact you and see which job you are best suited for, and that you'd enjoy best. There really is something for everyone!
The Team
- Volunteers are divided into teams. Each group works on a particular area of the festival, a specific venue or task portion of the festival as a whole.
- Specific task portions include: Security, Operations, Logistics, and Traffic Control.
- Specific venues include the Jazz Band, Jazz Combo, Concert Band, Vocal Jazz, Concert Choir, and "Showcase" (Mainstage Concert) stages, in addition to Workshop/Masterclass stages. Each of these venues is located within a specific geographic portion of the festival site.
- Each team is assigned a Team Leader who organizes and directs the group. The leader is a senior, experienced volunteer, some of whom have had as many as ten years experience with the festival. Every returning volunteer is annually presented with an option to apply for a Team Leader position.
Stage Crew
Qualifications: Good physical strength, the ability to work within a small team, problem solving and lateral thinking skills are paramount. Experience in the set up or operation of lighting or sound equipment is beneficial, but not required.
Description: Working with your team on an adjudicated stage, under the direction of the Stage Manager, you will prepare the stage for daily performances, reset and change configurations as required. Stage Crew can be called upon at times to act as Temporary Stage Managers to cover breaks. Volunteer positions for stage crew exist on most of the adjudicated and feature stages, exposing you to some of the finest music in each category.
Performer Guide
Qualifications: Excellent interpersonal and social skills, with a fun and friendly attitude. The volunteer requires good diction and communication skills, in one or both of Canada's official languages.
Description: The Performer Guide is our window to our guests and the community. Acting as part of your stage team, you will guide each ensemble through their performance process from start to finish. Using problem solving skills and learning solutions, your task will be to ensure that each performing ensemble receives nothing but the best experience at MusicFest Canada. It is important for Performer Guides to be information experts, both of venue-specific information and MusicFest job duties and descriptions, as they are often called upon to work various positions throughout the week.
Security Guard
Qualifications: A keen eye and deductive skills, good communication and diction. Security guards require patience and a composed manner.
Description: Loss control is a key facet of operating a large festival in a public place. Security guards monitor equipment, secure rooms, and ensure that participants, volunteers, adjudicators and chaperones are safe and enjoying themselves. Often you will be called to assist in crowd and traffic control, or other activities requiring a responsible, watchful eye.
Recording Engineer
Qualifications: Extreme attentiveness, a friendly and cheerful attitude, and a good ear for music. Experience in operating sound or recording equipment is beneficial, but not required as extensive training is provided in this field.
Description: Working closely with our panels of adjudicators, each of whom are serious professionals revered within the musical world, you will ensure that each ensemble receives top-quality recordings of their performance. Ensembles typically get anywhere from three to six recordings, depending on category. Your role will be to set up the recording equipment, and record each performance with the best possible "mix" or sound quality.
