5 (Proven) Ways To Attend All Of Your Favorite Festivals For Free
Written by Marcus K. Dowling for Festival Advisor
Here at Festival Advisor, we know that there’s nothing more fun than trying to attend one or ALL of your favorite festivals every year. But, we all know festival prices are expensive.
Now imagine if your friends here at Festival Advisor told you that there were ways to attend one or all of your favorite festivals for FREE? Do we have your attention yet? We do? Great.
Yes, it might be enough to sit and prepare all year long for Labor Day Weekend and Electric Zoo. But, what about the people who dream of Electric Zoo AND EDC? For some folks, it’s all about making festival-going a year-long celebration. Of course it requires some hard work and smart planning, but it’s entirely possible. Here are five unique ways to make it happen.
1. Sign Up As A Festival Ambassador With Festival Advisor
Via a partnership with Pollen, Festival Advisor’s Festival Ambassador program allows you, a festival lover, the ability to earn the chance to attend festivals like Electric Zoo for free. After a brief application process that allows you to list your interests, hobbies, and background, your application is reviewed for qualification. Once approved, you’re able to, as an ambassador, offer your friends the ability to buy tickets through your account to allow you to receive perks and rewards for the event. Reach your promotion goals and yes, you’ll have the ability to attend festivals for free, plus VIP upgrades, meet and greets and more. Are you the go-to friend that delivers with the most exciting party plans? Turned all of your friends onto their favorite events and music? If so, then this is for you!
2. Work At A Festival Help Desk
Do you consider yourself smart, organized, and aware of every fact and cool “secret” nugget of information about your favorite festival? If you’re a yearly attendee of an event, totally consider applying to work at the festival’s help desk. Most festival websites will have a “FAQ” section with an email to ask for more information, or maybe even an application form. Eventbrite research notes that one in every three festival attendees casually attends one festival every year. These are usually the people who search out a help desk attendee to ask a question about say, food, health, shelter, or where they can hear that one favorite DJ they love, that can elevate a festival experience from “just okay” to a yearly must-attend extravaganza. Who better to make a festival experience an accessible, lovely time than someone who already loves a festival event? Spending 30% of the time at a three-day festival (think of it as an eight-hour workday) that you’re attending 100% free of charge in a booth ensuring everyone has just as amazing an experience as you do totally sounds absolutely worth it.
3. Cover A Festival As A Journalist Or Photographer
Are you someone who already has significant writing or photography experience? Or, do you consider writing or photography a passion project or hobby? It might be worth checking to see what outlets have covered your favorite festival, or what highly-respected or often-visited magazines, newspapers, or blogs you regularly check would be interested in coverage of your favorite event? From there, all festival websites do have an application process for journalists and photographers that will usually require you to list an outlet you’d be working for and a few sample clips of your work. The benefits of doing this? Is getting to interview your favorite performers, or having access to the front of the stage where you’re separated mere feet away from the action with your camera in hand not exciting enough? Well, imagine getting to describe or showcase the swell of the emotion of a peak-hour headlining set.
4. Volunteer For A Charity
Numerous charities view festivals as wonderful places where they can spread their message and gain support for their causes by providing free swag or entertaining activations related to the festival itself. Swag doesn’t hand out itself nor can event pop-ups staff themselves. Having volunteer staff being paid in festival attendance doing essential work for both the charity and the enhancement of a festival’s presentation is truly important and benefits all parties involved.
The easiest way to go about making this happen is to take a look at the sponsor list on a festival’s website and research who handles their live event promotions. Send over an email expressing interest, that includes a resume, and if you’re capable of lifting a box or handy with a screwdriver. From there, it’s entirely more than likely that you’ll receive a swift response. Find a charity that you’re particularly fond of, and it may become your perpetual feel-good moment of the year.
5. Volunteer As Ground Control
Festivals oftentimes get a bit more wild than expected. From just handing out water to dehydrated revelers to in the case of a medical emergency where paramedics are necessary, being a point of help, ground control does it all. If you’re generally a calm and resourceful person looking for a way to positively impact an overall festival experience, this may be just the opportunity for you. Either look for a direct link on a festival website for an application process or email festival organizers. The role of volunteers in this capacity is truly essential to any festival. Ground control support are scheduled in shifts. In exchange for your work, you receive a certain amount of time off to enjoy the festival.
Do you want to become a festival or event ambassador? See if you qualify!
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