Fun Jobs at Music Festivals

From huge music festivals to yoga, dance, arts, food, and beer festivals, festivals are a summer staple across the world. These large-scale events don't produce themselves. It takes a diverse and hardworking team to bring a festival to life.

Accordingly, there are a lot of different jobs—volunteer roles, as well as part- and full-time jobs—associated with festivals.

Find out more about the job opportunities involved in festivals. 

Brand Ambassador

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Being a brand ambassador is a non-professional festival job that's ideal for extroverts. Many companies recruit outgoing, engaging, and friendly people to promote their products or company at events, including at festivals.

Responsibilities include chatting with attendees about the product, offering samples, and increasing brand awareness. 

Events Marketer

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You see the ads on the internet, radio, or on posters plastered on public transit. You get the emails in your inbox or follow your favorite festival on social media. Perhaps you hear about the headliners on the radio, or you pick up a flyer. 

All of those efforts don’t come out of thin air. In fact, many festivals employ an in-house marketing team to promote the festival. They focus on everything from developing social media platforms to ads to billboards.

If you have any interest in marketing or social media marketing, this might be the job for you.

Social Media Manager

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Speaking of social media, if you’re a networking maven and also a festival fan, consider pursuing a job in social media management or marketing. Festivals need to have an active and engaging presence on social media platforms.

Travel and Lodging Coordinator

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Festivals bring together the best of the best of the music, food, film, yoga, or arts scene. Coordinating the flights, lodging, and transportation of so many people, and in some cases, important headliners, isn’t an easy task.

Travel and lodging coordinators are essential—it's a good role for anyone in the corporate hospitality or travel industry.

Public Relations or Communications Manager

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A festival will likely want coverage of its event in blogs, in magazines, on television, or on the radio. They want to get the word out, in a positive light.

An event public relations or communications manager is responsible for managing external reporting or communication about the festival. They might also serve as the public face or spokesperson for the festival in interviews. 

Vendor

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If you have your own small business, whether it's a food truck, a clothing company, or a jewelry stand, you can apply to be a vendor on festival grounds. Many festivals have designated areas for vendors, placed in strategic locations that get a lot of foot traffic during the day. 

Sponsorship or Sales Manager

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Sponsors make a festival come to life, and in many cases, sponsorship revenue is a huge component of a festival’s overall income. Of course, sponsors won’t just get on board with any festival.

Festival producers need to convince like-minded brands and organizations that their event will be an opportunity to connect with potential customers and increase awareness and engagement. This isn’t an easy task, which is why many festivals and large event companies hire a sponsorship or sales team to obtain partnership agreements with key partners.

Designer

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Festivals need a strong visual presence to catch your eye and to keep you entertained. Visual images include advertisements, posters, banners, stage and set decor, wristbands, program guides, and more. These images need to be compelling and cohesive.

This requires a team of various designers, including visual designers, set designers, and graphic designers.

Event Producer

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An event producer coordinates and oversees all aspects of the festival. This includes the event space, the running of the show, the talent, the vendors, the quality of the attendee experience, and logistical details like budget, production timelines, and much, much more.

It's an ideal role for people who are clear-headed, meticulous with details, hardworking, and have excellent problem-solving skills. 

Talent Booker

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A talent manager or booker is in charge of securing key entertainers for the festival's lineup. This involves reaching out to managers, negotiating a budget and contract for pay, and ensuring that the talent is taken care of while onsite.

Accountant

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Large festivals need an accounting staff to oversee budgets, invoices, taxes, and expenses, and to analyze various ways to increase revenue. There are a lot of practices specific to accounting for wristband events, so festival companies often look for accountants who have experience in the field.

Audio and Visual Technician

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From light design to sound engineering, there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes of your favorite musician's set. Festivals employ technicians and designers to ensure each musical act is top quality and engaging for the audience. 

Volunteer Coordinator

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Many festivals "hire" a team of volunteers to help with behind-the-scenes work and various tasks necessary to make the event run smoothly. Typically, volunteers receive free admission to the festival in exchange for their assistance.

Depending on the size of the festival, volunteer teams can exceed 100 to 200 people, or sometimes more. In many cases, festivals employ a volunteer coordinator to both recruit and manage volunteers.

Operations Team

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Of course, festivals can't rely solely on volunteers to get the heavy lifting done. The operations team handles necessary but sometimes difficult tasks that need to get done onsite, like building sets, delivering equipment and supplies, keeping the staff fed, cleaning up, and anything else that may arise during the event.