Festival volunteering

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Volunteer with WaterAid this summer!

WaterAid/ Ben Roberts

Festival volunteering with WaterAid

Join us at major UK festivals over the summer, helping deliver vital services and inspiring others to support our work.

Applications to join us this summer have now closed.

We're currently reviewing all applications and will be in touch with everyone soon.

Once we've allocated places from the current round of applications, we may still have spaces available at some festivals – in which case, we'll re-open applications for those festivals. Keep an eye on this page, and join our Festival Volunteering Facebook group, for all the latest updates.

2024 festivals

Dates indicated are the dates most volunteers will need to be onsite – some festivals (Glastonbury and Green Man) also have some roles with a different shift pattern. All events are subject to change and/or cancellation.

What our volunteers do

From refilling water bottles to looking after the loos, our volunteers help make sure festivals stay clean, safe and enjoyable for everyone – all whilst raising awareness of the life-changing power of clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene.

We don’t ask you to choose which crew you'd like to join, but as part of the application process you’ll be able to highlight any particular skills and experiences that will help us allocate the most suitable role to you. Please bear in mind that most of our roles do involve cleaning of some kind – and at Glastonbury, over half the positions include cleaning toilets.

What it's like to volunteer with WaterAid

There's no denying it: festival volunteering can involve rolling up your sleeves and getting stuck in.

But it's also a wonderful opportunity to come together with a welcoming group of people, all passionate about WaterAid’s mission of making clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene a normal part of daily life – for everyone, everywhere.

And of course, when you’re not on shift, you’ll be able to enjoy the rest of the festival!

I went on my own and felt totally safe. The other volunteers become friends overnight and the atmosphere in the camp is wonderful. Everyone I spoke to was thrilled that the toilets were so clean and recognised the issues with lack of water for people in other countries.
Jacqueline, volunteer at Glastonbury 2022
Jacqueline, volunteer at Glastonbury 2022
Image: WaterAid/ Ben Roberts

Find out more about:

At multi-day festivals, you'll need to camp within the dedicated WaterAid area of the crew-only campsite. Facilities include toilets, showers, and a volunteer marquee with tea, coffee, and biscuits. If you have friends or family camping elsewhere at a festival, they won't be able to join you in the crew area, and you'll still need to camp with WaterAid for insurance and health and safety reasons.

You'll need to bring your own camping equipment, and unfortunately we don't have space to accommodate live-in vehicles, apart from at Camp Bestival.

We're not usually able to provide accommodation at single-day events.

We provide one meal per shift worked, either as vouchers to use at the event's crew catering, or as an expense allowance to buy food from on-site traders. Each festival has slightly different arrangements, which we confirm with you beforehand.

Priority status

If you volunteered with us at two or more festivals in 2023, or if you've volunteered at five or more over the past five years, you'll automatically benefit from priority status for this summer. This doesn’t guarantee you a place on our team, but it does mean that we’ll process your application first.

Accessibility

We welcome applications from disabled people and want to make volunteering with us accessible to as many people as we can.

Please get in touch with us on [email protected] or 020 7793 2244 if you'd like any further guidance, or need support to complete the application form.

There's space on the application form to state any adjustments you may require to carry out your voluntary role with us, which might include:

  • having the option to camp in the accessible campsite if preferred (subject to availability),
  • providing you with a chair,
  • adjustments to shift and/or break times,
  • providing materials in alternative formats (e.g. large text),
  • lending you camping equipment,
  • supporting with the transport of equipment from the car park to our campsite,
  • providing financial support for expenses and deposits.

Please get in touch with us on [email protected] or 020 7793 4523 if you'd like to discuss any potential adjustments with us before applying.

Most festivals have a dedicated access team, and we can contact them to discuss any specific needs.

We're unable to arrange personal assistants but if you have a PA, most festivals provide them with free tickets, and we won't ask them to pay a deposit. PAs will need to complete our online application process, agree to all terms and conditions, and complete all training.

You can find out more information about access at each festival by checking their websites.

Contact us

If you have any questions, check out our festival volunteering FAQs, or email us at [email protected].

You can also join the WaterAid Festival Volunteering Facebook group to connect with fellow volunteers, and keep up to date with the latest volunteering opportunities.