Volunteer coordinators, Jonathan Stein and Ben Price, organize volunteers to manage the 3,600 students attending the University of Idaho’s Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, with a team of five graduate students and seven work-study students, coordinating the volunteers at the Jazz Festival.
The volunteer team manages 10 performance sites around campus. Each location had eight to 15 performances or eight to 15 schools arrive. With this influx of students and performers, each site needs around 10 volunteers to manage these sites. These volunteers work in shifts to manage each site throughout the day.
Volunteers come from various places across the city of Moscow and UI.
There is a large presence of university Greek life, clubs, groups and classes that help to fill in positions. The Global Student Support Program (GSSP) with a team of six or seven volunteers helps provide volunteers and is one of the Jazz Fest sponsors. Other sponsors, including Idaho Central Credit Union, send some individuals to help with run the Jazz Fest.
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“Reaching out to Greek life and previous organizations that have volunteered the year before is one-way recruiting works for the Jazz Festival,” Stein said.
Stein said for the last four months the team has been working with fraternities and sororities to coordinate how these houses will volunteer. Stein and his team made it the Greek organization’s responsibility to coordinate who and when they will volunteer. The team calls it an adopt a site, to help manage the many shifts the volunteers will rotate through.
Hunter Higginbotham, a member of Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity, started his first shift as a volunteer for the Jazz Fest last week.
“I’m excited to do this because I was in band for about eight years and went to my fair share or festivals,” Higginbotham said. “It’s kind of cool to volunteer for something I used to do back in the day.”
Higginbotham’s Fraternity philanthropy chair mentioned volunteering at the Jazz Festival, and he jumped on the opportunity to help, with the chance to influence the numerous students that come to the Jazz Fest.
Other volunteers found their way to Jazz Fest by being apart of the College of Letter, Arts and Social Sciences. The Lionel Hampton School of Music has voiced volunteer opportunities and other programs have worked to get students involved in helping in such a large event.
Eslie King, a freshman voice performance major, found herself getting involved in Jazz Festival.
“I’ve been waking around these past few hours, and because I’m wearing this volunteer shirt all these people come up to me and they are like I need help finding directions and wondering where performances are,” Eslie King said.
King said the spirit Jazz Festival brings and the amazing and talented performers made her excited.
Stein said it has been a long-standing partnership, ever since the first Jazz Fest. The volunteer coordinators have had good relationships with the Greek groups, sponsors, clubs and other organizations that help to run this event.
“It is going to be a great festival with the number of volunteers we will have this year,” Stein said. “We are excited.”
Brandon Roberts can be reached at brandonjr@uidaho.edu