Volunteers and companions - Oerol Festival

In addition to all the paid staff, around six hundred volunteers are working this year to make Oerol a success. Volunteers are involved in the set-up and dismantling, as audience guides, in the catering industry, at the service counters or as drivers. In short, volunteers are working almost everywhere at the festival.

Volunteers do not receive any financial compensation for their efforts. They come to Oerol because they have a connection with the festival and want to contribute. Oerol needs this enthusiastic group of people: we don’t call them our heroes for nothing!

We believe it is important that volunteers feel valued by Oerol and the companies. This appreciation pays off in enthusiastic and hard-working volunteers.

At Oerol, volunteers are divided into different teams, each with a sub-coordinator as a point of contact. A volunteer works at least three days, but many volunteers stay an average of seven days. During the festival, a volunteer works a maximum of seven hours per day (including breaks).

Volunteer hotline

Are volunteers late or is there a calamity that cannot be solved directly with the help of the sub-coordinator or Oerol production manager? Then call the hotline for one of the volunteer coordinators. They are ready to help you every day from 09:00 to 23:00.

Telephone number: 0562 202 166 (available on festival days between 09:00 and 23:00)
E-mail: vrijwilligers@oerol.nl

Set-up and take-down

Dates of set-up and dismantling with volunteers:
– Set-up: Tuesday 3 to Friday 13 June
– Take-down: Sunday 22 June to Wednesday 25 June

All construction and dismantling jobs are inventoried by the production coordinators of Oerol at the companies before mid-May. The production coordinators then request volunteers for this from our volunteer coordinators. All volunteers gather at 09:00 at the Oerol office. There, the jobs for that day are divided among the volunteers. The volunteers then cycle to the relevant location of their job. In practice, this means that they work from 10:00 until 17:00 at the latest.

Regarding the dismantling, we would like to emphasize that on June 22, the last Sunday of the festival, there are still few volunteers available for the dismantling. The festival is not over yet, so the volunteers are often still working in other places. It is good to take this into account when you start dismantling that day.

During the festival

Volunteers scan, under the supervision of the company/maker, the tickets and festival wristbands at the entrance of the performance. Just like for the set-up and dismantling, the production coordinator of Oerol will coordinate with you how many people are needed for this.

The volunteers who do the audience guidance change per day/performance. As a company you do not get a fixed group of volunteers. In this way we keep the work for the volunteers varied and as a company you always have new, fresh, enthusiastic people.

Rules of the game

To ensure smooth and pleasant cooperation between volunteers and companies, we apply a number of conditions and rules.

Volunteers support during the construction, the festival and the dismantling. Volunteers are always supervised on location during all activities, unless otherwise agreed in advance with the production coordinators.
From the company there is one point of contact on the island. This person is always reachable by phone for the volunteers and (sub)coordinators (for example the production manager of the company).
A clear location has been agreed upon between the company and the production coordinator of Oerol where the volunteers report. This location is easy to find for the volunteers and strategically chosen by the production coordinator.
There is always someone present on location to receive volunteers, explain what the intention is and guide them during the work (e.g. the production manager of the company).
We never use volunteers as:
– Guard or security guard.
– An essential part of the success of a performance (this could include playing along or handing out technology, such as tablets or headphones, without supervision or instruction). The intention is not for a performance to become dependent on a volunteer. Although we have a great many motivated volunteers, it can happen that volunteers are late, cannot find the location or do not show up.
– Direction indicator: we apply the rule: ‘where there can be a sign, there are no volunteers’. Of course, guiding the audience in difficult places can be part of the task.
– Babysitter.
– Technician.
If it is possible to rotate the volunteers, we do so. This keeps the work varied. A volunteer also has to be replaced occasionally for routine work or for a toilet visit.
In addition, it is of course important to regularly check with the volunteers to see if everything is going well.
At the end of the volunteer service, someone from the group will conclude the service with the volunteers. If this is not possible, make clear agreements about this at the beginning of the service.

Fixed volunteers

We are regularly asked if we can exclusively link volunteers to a group. Experience shows that this is very difficult with so many volunteers in different functions. That is why it is not possible to link a permanent group of volunteers to a company.

One way a theatre group can work with permanent volunteers is if they bring their own. Oerol allows this, but there are a few rules:

The production coordinator from Oerol determines how many volunteers he/she would normally assign to this group. This is the number of volunteers that we reimburse; they then receive a camping spot, admission wristbands, lunch and/or dinner vouchers on workdays, 50% discount on bicycles, discount on performances (depending on the
number of workdays) and a number of other nice extras.
Example: A theatre group would like to bring 5 volunteers. The production coordinator would assign three to the group. In this case, the group will receive three volunteers from Oerol. They will pay the costs for the other volunteers themselves.
In all cases in which the theatre group itself brings volunteers, Oerol is not responsible for any absence of these volunteers. The scheduling of these volunteers is the responsibility of the theatre group itself. If someone is ill or has another problem, the volunteer coordination will not provide a replacement. Of course, the volunteer coordination can help to find solutions in these cases.
Volunteers who receive volunteer allowances from Oerol can register via the registration form (clearly stating the group). This way they will be included in the volunteer database and will receive all allowances and information. Always let the production coordinator know who is in your group, so they can pass this on to the volunteer coordinators.