Festival volunteering

Layout
Layout 3

Festival volunteering with WaterAid

WaterAid/ Ben Roberts

Festival volunteering

Our teams of dedicated volunteers help events run smoothly, while inspiring festivalgoers 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 by the end of April at the latest.

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.

2023 festivals

Dates indicated are the dates volunteers will need to be on-site, which will usually be one or two days longer than the event itself. All events are subject to change and/or cancellation by the organisers.

What our volunteers do

We deliver a range of essential services, including keeping festivalgoers hydrated, providing our very own compost toilets, and helping to keep the festival clean for everyone – all whilst spreading the word about 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 skills and experience that will help us allocate the most suitable role to you. Please bear in mind that most of our roles – especially at Glastonbury – do involve cleaning of some kind!

What it's like to volunteer with WaterAid

Festival volunteering can involve rolling up your sleeves and getting stuck in – there's no denying it!

But it's also a wonderful opportunity to come together with a welcoming group of friendly, like-minded people, all passionate about WaterAid’s mission of reaching everyone, everywhere with clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene. 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
WaterAid/ Ben Roberts

Find out more about:

Every multi-day festival has a crew-only campsite with a dedicated WaterAid area. The facilities on offer in the crew campsite will vary depending on the event; we'll let you know more information about specifics nearer the festival. 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.

You'll need to bring your own camping equipment, and unfortunately we don't have space to accommodate campervans.

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

We provide one full meal per shift worked, either in the form of vouchers to use at the dedicated crew cafe, or an expense allowance to buy food from on-site traders. Each festival has slightly different arrangements, which we confirm with you beforehand.

Priority status

We want to honour the commitment of our volunteers who join us at multiple festivals – so, if you volunteer at two or more each year, you'll benefit from priority status the following year. This won’t guarantee you a place on our team, but it does mean that we’ll process your application first.

If you volunteered with us at two or more festivals in 2022, or if you’ve volunteered at five or more in the past five years, you’ll automatically have priority status for our 2023 volunteer team.

If you volunteer with us at two or more festivals this summer, or if you've volunteered at five or more over the past five years, you'll benefit from priority status for our 2024 volunteer team – including Glastonbury!

Read the full priority status policy (PDF)

Accessibility

We want to do everything we can to make festival volunteering with us accessible for everyone. Please get in touch with us by emailing [email protected], or by calling 020 7793 4594, if we can help with:

  • Setting up a payment plan for your deposit
  • Borrowing camping equipment
  • Additional help with expenses
  • Support during the application process (e.g. with training) and/or at the festival
  • Anything else that we could do to support you to volunteer with us.

Contact us

If you have any questions, check out our FAQs page, or contact us by emailing [email protected] or calling 0207 793 4523 – we’d be happy to help!

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.