Peacekeepers — Festival Coordinators

The Peacekeeper Role

Hello!  Great that you found your way here and that you’re interested in joining the Peacekeeper team.

The Peacekeepers help to look after and support everyone at the festival.

The team gathers together a couple of days before the festival starts, to get to know each other, train together, meet other teams, generally settle in, and build a sense of community.

During the festival the Peacekeeper team members bring their life skills and experience to support ticket holders and festival crew in difficult or tense situations through peaceful communication.  Buddhafield has a separate and professional Security Team and the Peacekeeper role is different to theirs.  Our role includes:

• Supporting ticket holders and festival crew who are struggling in some way, including sign-posting them to the appropriate team (e.g. well-being for people experiencing mental health difficulties, safeguarding, inclusivity, etc.)
• Supporting the Buddhafield Safeguarding team in their work, in a variety of ways
• Interacting with people who are taking or already under the influence of alcohol or drugs, to support Buddhafield’s commitment to being an intoxicant-free space
• Helping to uphold Buddhafield’s commitments and policies.  e.g. intervening when acoustic music is too loud and ensuring electronic music stops at the music curfew each evening.
• Taking part in searching for lost children, according to our set protocol

If you apply for this role we’ll arrange a call and, amongst other things, talk through the role in more detail, so you can ask questions and get clearer on whether it will suit you.

Dates 

• Team building and co-training - arriving between 2pm-4pm on Sunday 9th July
• Working through the festival - Wednesday 12th July - Sunday 16th July
• Debriefing - most team members leaving late afternoon of Monday 17th July, with 2 or 3 of the team staying on until Tuesday 18th am

Your Experience

No special skills or experience are required, other than an interest in and commitment to resolving tension through peaceful communication.  We (the team coordinators, with lots of input from everyone in the team) will facilitate training.

You will need to:

• Be eighteen or over
• Have good spoken English
• Be interested in speaking with and supporting people and have a commitment to resolving tension through peaceful communication
• And it’s really helpful if you have a DBS check and some experience of safeguarding, but this is not necessary

Many people find Buddhafield Peacekeeping a very enjoyable and growthful experience. However, in offering to help in this way you would be taking on a commitment that may be demanding at times (we’re asking you to commit to being continually on-site and often outdoors in all weather for 9 day and engaging in potentially confrontational conversations as part of your role), so please consider this when applying.

What We Offer You

• Your ticket to Buddhafield Festival - 12th - 16th July
• 3 vegan meals a day during training, during the festival and during debrief time
• Training and co-training, before you start working, including input from experienced mediators and de-escalators
• Access to a snack table and hot drinks during training, during the festival and during debrief time
• Meditation teaching and Dharma input, if you'd like it
• An experience of being in a well-supported team, working closely with others to have fun and learn together

What We Ask of You

We ask that you commit to…

• Living on site with us from Sunday 9th July until Monday 17th July, in your tent, in your live in vehicle or under your tarp
• Working 1 x 5.5 hour shift each day of the festival (Wednesday 12th July - Sunday 16th July).  Shifts include a check-in, handovers, and a check-out.  We’ll do our best to work out shifts in a way that works for everyone.
• Arriving on site for some relaxed team building and co-training between 2pm-4pm on Sunday 9th July
• Leaving site in the afternoon of Monday 17th July
• Bringing as much of yourself as you’re willing and able - your energy, openness, experiences, ideas and feelings

How to Apply to Volunteer with Peacekeepers

• Please fill in the form below (or say in the form if you’d rather apply via a phone call)
• We’ll then give you a call to talk through your application and anything else you’d like to chat about
• We’ll do our best to let you know if you have a place on the team in very early May.  Please hold the dates until then! 
• If you don’t get a place on this team, there’s also the possibility that you can be added to a general reserves list and guaranteed a volunteering place, although which team you’ll be with won’t be certain until closer to the festival

Applications will close Sunday, 16th April. We'll then ask you for a short phone call, and, after that, we’ll do our best to let you know if you have a place on the team by Tuesday, 9th May.