Seattle Metblogs
It’s hard work putting on a big event of any sort, especially a huge festival like the Seattle International Film Festival, and one of the key requirements for success is having enough people on hand to do all the jobs, big and small, that need to be done. In addition to their full-time staff, SIFF relies on volunteers to to help keep everything running as smoothly as possible.There are about 50 – 80 volunteers who help out at SIFF throughout the year, says SIFF Volunteer Coordinator Monica Hinckley, who help out at SIFF Cinema and distributing their SIFF Cinema catalogs throughout the city. That number swells to 600 to 800 during most festival years, but this year they have over 900 active volunteers. Festival volunteers fill many roles from the obvious, like box office will call staff and ushers, to the positions like guest relations driver or bartender. SIFF volunteers introduce films, photograph the events, represent the festival as part of the street team, help out in the festival and guest relations offices, provide translation or interpretation services, provide technical or production assistance and much more. There’s a position for just about anyone.