Words by

Ish Sveinsson Houle

Photo by

Florian Trykowski

Volunteering is your way into a festival for just zero krónur

In the fall of 2023, I decided two things: 1. I wanted to go to Iceland Airwaves, and 2. I didn’t want to pay for it. Sure, I could have figured out some elaborate scheme, maybe convince a bartender I know to hide me in the stock room, then come out just in time for the show — and pull that off in a few more bars and an art museum — but I decided to take a path of lesser resistance. I decided to volunteer.  

For this issue’s In This Economy?! I’m going to convince you that volunteering for festivals in exchange for a ticket is the way to go. Whether you’re looking for name-droppy stories, a peek behind the curtain, or some of the most fascinating people you’ve ever come across, volunteering at a festival is for you.  

Iceland Airwaves 

Airwaves, being Iceland’s most reputable, coordinated, and biggest festival, has a lot of structure around their volunteer programme. In your registration, you specify what type of work you’d like to do or what you have experience in; I signed myself up for “Accreditation” and “Artist liaison” due to a little prior experience there. I received “shifts” in both, and on my first day set off to Center Hotel to welcome some artists to Reykjavík. 

This one, frankly, was fun. I sat and chatted with my fellow volunteers (such as a couple from Japan, a musician from Costa Rica, and an American on her third trip to Iceland that year). As artists trickled in from Keflavík, I remember carrying luggage and fielding questions about the legality and potential acquirability of certain substances in Reykjavík. I got to put some faces to band names; in particular I met a Berlin-based boy band that would later become one of my favourites of the festival, Donkey Kid.  

My other shifts, in accreditation, were a simple rotation of name, ID-check, spreadsheet glance, wristband, rinse and repeat. I mostly checked in festival-goers, but also helped a couple of artists (and, admittedly, dorkily, complimented Reykjavík-based pianist Dustin O’Halloran and OMAM co-lead Nanna on their work). After this, it was off to the festival for me and — a bonus — the Airwaves closing party featuring FETISH (US), plus Hatari and Daði Freyr DJ sets. One of my co-volunteers danced so hard she fell, and was helped up by Árný Fjóla. An Airwaves higher-up we met introduced us to Daði. Would I have experienced any of that if I hadn’t volunteered? Nope! 

NÆRBUXUR 

More recently, I lent time to the BUXUR collective’s latest rave in Austurbæjarbíó, NÆRBUXUR. Admittedly and expectedly less structured than Airwaves, I was nevertheless assigned the same role I worked at Airwaves (artist liaison), but also pitched in here and there. I volunteered with a friend, and she lent most of her time to sewing a pair of giant underwear (“nærbuxur” means underwear in Icelandic) alongside beloved Reykjavík-based artist Natka (@kosmonatka).  

This fest, too, held experiences I would never have had if I had paid entrance and spent the whole time in the crowd. A personal favourite was checking in on a certain DJ during his set, him needing to pee, handing me the headset, and telling me to “pretend.” Anyone with a trained eye in the audience could immediately see that I was not controlling the decks, but I think I confused a few rave-goers who cheered me on enthusiastically.  

Volunteering here was all about the people I met — a bigger difference between volunteering for Airwaves versus any other festival here is that there are a lot of visiting volunteers for Airwaves, but in almost every other festival around, you’re going to meet people you’ll see next week at Krónan.  

What’s coming up? 

So, have I convinced you? If so, there are a few volunteer opportunities I have on my radar: Reykjavík’s Verslunarmannahelgi extravaganza Innipúkinn is taking over Austurbæjarbíó the first week of August, and is looking for volunteers ASAP. Queer club night Sleikur 7.0 just announced their pride takeover of, you guessed it, Austurbæjarbíó, on August 9. RVK Fringe asked for volunteers this June, film festivals Stockfish (April) and RIFF (September) are also always looking for volunteers. Airwaves is releasing its new and improved volunteer campaign on July 18. And if you end up volunteering for a festival soon, I’ll hopefully see you there.  

Times are tough, and money is tight. In This Economy?! spotlights things to do that don’t cost a single krónur (well, not today, but usually). Got a free event you want more people to know about? Let us know at grapevine@grapevine.is