Volunteering
Our organisation is built upon providing a sense of place, community and offering opportunities to get involved. We offer over 300 volunteer opportunities and 350 employment opportunities per year.
We have over 160 volunteers on our books with over 80 actively taking part in our events. Volunteers initially fulfil roles at our smaller venues whilst increasing confidence and gaining key transferable skills to progress to more responsibilities, fast-tracking routes into employment at other BTC venues and events.
We embrace a community spirit with the majority of our staff being volunteers, or having started off as volunteers.
Volunteering Roles
Box Office
Welcome and admit customers to the venue, checking and selling tickets as directed by the event promoter, while keeping a tally of how many people enter the venue.
Photography
Capturing the performers, the venue and audiences during the event as well as the vibe and aesthetic.
Bar
Add your pricing strategy. Be sure to include important details like value, length of service, and why it’s unique.
Content & Videography
Creating stories for social media and reels for after the event, or a highlight video of the event.
Sound
We have a number of roles in live sound available, including assisting the sound engineer, monitor engineering, stage crew and stage management.
Duty Management
Managing and looking after staff and volunteers, observe and report venue capacity, cleaning facilities, observing health and safety standards, liaising with artists.
Lights
Creating exciting and appropriate lighting onstage and managing light levels in the auditorium and backstage.
Artist Liaison
Ensuring artists are comfortable and familiar with the site, have access to all amenities necessary and provide the backstage rider to the artists if appropriate.
Perks & Progressions
As well as this looking great on your CV and opening up employment prospects, this is a great chance to meet like-minded people in the area. Those who join our lovely bunch of volunteers will have access to benefits including a crew T-Shirt, a free drink and discounts on the bar when volunteering, as well as reduced rates for rehearsing and recording at our neighbouring studio Punch Studios.
We are keen to help people train up in roles they are interested in, which then lead on to getting involved further in volunteering or employment at our venues and festivals.
Sign Up
If you're interested in becoming a volunteer please complete the contact form linked below.
We will ask you to include information about yourself and any experience if applicable, as well as which roles you would most like to volunteer in.
To volunteer you need to be 16+, and 18+ for working behind the bar. We will then get in touch with information about volunteering including our Volunteer Handbook, and the monthly availability form.
You will be given a specific role when volunteering with us, and the availability of these roles depends on how many gigs there are each month and how many sign ups we get - we do our best to spread out the roles fairly so everyone gets a chance to do their preferred role.
We are truly grateful for any time you have to spare and hope that you enjoy your experience!
Testimonials
“One of the best decisions I've made in the last few years was to volunteer at this venue. It's done wonders for my confidence, social life, and has allowed me to develop skills that have put me into gainful employment doing something that I absolutely love. Not to mention the feeling of being valued as part of a great team doing great things, which is utterly priceless.”
“What I've enjoyed most about volunteering for The Smokehouse is getting to meet new and interesting people. From other crew members to artists to all the people I got to meet and chat to while being on door. The community around live music is what's made volunteering so much fun and something I can't wait to get back to.”
“I absolutely love volunteering at The Smokehouse & The Baths. I’ve learnt so much. I’ve also seen some great bands and met some like minded people that have taught me so much. It’s made me want a career in the music industry even more than I did before.”
