Verses Festival & Van Slam Volunteers

Organization:

Vancouver Poetry House

Deadline:

Apr. 4, 2025

Organization Description:

Vancouver Poetry House is the largest spoken word organization in Canada. VPH is dedicated to bringing poetry from diverse oral and literary traditions to Vancouver and British Columbia. VPH oversees three programs: Vancouver Poetry Slam, a weekly community stage with a headlining performer; WordPlay Poets, an outreach program that offers workshops and performances in schools and communities around BC; and Verses Festival of Words, Canada’s largest, annual spoken word festival.

Organization Website:

http://www.vancouverpoetryhouse.com

Volunteer Opportunity Description:

We're looking to engage volunteers for the upcoming Verses Festival of Words (Apr 10-19, 2025), as well as folks interested in supporting year-round programming, such as the Vancouver Poetry Slam.

Prior to the festival, we would like to engage volunteers who can support with direct engagement of local businesses as in-kind festival sponsors, as well as those who can support various event preparation needs.

During both Verses Festival and Van Slam events, our needs include direct support with door, merch sales, scorekeeping/timekeeping (for slams) and/or setup/teardown. For the festival, we would also be interested in engaging volunteers to provide limited driving to support pick up/drop off of non-local artists engaged for the festival.

We appreciate the work volunteers put in to support events and help build the spoken word community in Vancouver. We do our best to offer our volunteers perks when possible, ranging from comped entry to events (up to full Verses festival passes) to volunteer celebrations/open mic events.

Responsibilities:

Sponsor Engagement
- Under direction of staff, go to businesses in and around Vancouver, primarily in the Mt. Pleasant area, to engage them as festival sponsors (ie. offering minor discounts for passholders and/or donating gifts for artist bags)

Door
- Welcome and check off pre-registered attendees, passholders, etc.
- Handle entry sales at door in cash and on Square

Merch
- Manage sales of artist merch, inc. sales in cash and on Square, tracking/recording sales, appropriately arranging and storing merchandise items at the start and end of events.

Poetry Slam Scorekeeper
- Record scores for each poet in keeping with regular procedures
- Ensure accurate recording of score totals, with deductions where applicable, and final ranking of competing poets

Poetry Slam Timekeeper
- Track the time of a poet's performance in keeping with regular procedures
- Indicate to the host when a time penalty has been incurred and publicly announce the time upon the host's request

Driver
- Pickup and/or drop off festival non-local artists from airport in a safe and timely manner
- Coordinate scheduling with festival staff and support festival hospitality with a welcoming/friendly demeanor

Qualifications:

For most roles, we welcome volunteers of all experience levels. Interested individuals are encouraged to provide some details about relevant professional/volunteer experience.

Drivers must have a Class 5 license, and be prepared to provide a driver's abstract and/or references at the request of the Inclusion Coordinator.

How to Apply:

Complete this Google form, indicating any and all roles for which you are interested: https://forms.gle/Eaaszp71hCnadWYFA

Alternatively, contact the Events Manager & Inclusion Coordinator directly at inclusion@vancouverpoetryhouse.com.

Contact Name: Sonya Littlejohn
Contact Email Address: inclusion@vancouverpoetryhouse.com