Volunteers are setting up right up to the minute at ARISE Music Fest with only one day left before the music starts.
Tameca L Coleman
Though some aspects of ARISE Music Festival have become much more smooth for the festival’s organizers and staff this year, new challenges keep showing up. It’s a day before the music starts and there is still lots to be done. “It’s nothing we can’t handle,” states Meagh McKee, one of the volunteers and PR staff for festival.
Anyone looking on can see that it’s not just with a can-do attitude that the festival’s staff and volunteers attend to their tasks. There’s a sense of warmth and community here, and it’s hard to sit still and watch others work without pitching in. Take it from Meagh, “Once you get here and see how everyone is willing to help everyone else, you want to be much more involved.”
This is the first year ARISE has opened up on a Thursday. As festival-goers, vendors, visionary artists, and media begin trickling in, volunteers make many up to the minute preparations for the three day conscious living fest that starts this Friday, Aug. 7 and goes through Aug. 9. There will be hundreds in all, each volunteer playing an important role in the community that is built around the festival.
As varied are the volunteers, so are the reasons for them being here. We took some time to sit with some of those who are working behind the scenes to find out why they volunteer at ARISE again and again. From the variety of musical acts showing up on the festival’s six stages to the multiple workshops on everything from environmental stewardship to spirituality, volunteers are abustle and happy to be a part. It helps even more that many of the connections made at events like these are life-long.
Tameca L Coleman: Why do you volunteer for ARISE?
Sonia Amodeo: I feel that ARISE has such a good message as a festival and the people that come here really just make me want to volunteer. The festival has a really good community feel and a really good social component that I love to be a part of.
Meagh McKee: I started off working on the PR team, I want to put in my extra two cents as much as I can because it’s fun once everyone starts showing up; you know exactly the way everything goes down. You have the behind-the-scenes view. That’s my favorite.
Pete and Carla Escobar: We volunteered for a couple of the bands we wanted to watch in particular: Ozomatli andLukas Nelson & Promise of the Real. However, this is something we’ve been doing over the past few years. We enjoy the atmosphere, the people we get to meet, and the things that we get to learn every time we come and volunteer. We’ve done volunteer coordination, stage set up and a little of everything. It’s just been fun to meet and socialize with people who come from all over the country.
TLC: What parts of the festival do you take home with you?
SA: ARISE is just a place where so many people come together. There are so many new types of people and interactions I make while I’m here. I’m making connections I hope will last a lifetime. If nothing else, I’ve made some good friends and seen some good music.
SA: ARISE is just a place where so many people come together. There are so many new types of people and interactions I make while I’m here. I’m making connections I hope will last a lifetime. If nothing else, I’ve made some good friends and seen some good music.
TLC: Is there anyone in particular you are excited about seeing?
SA: I am excited to see Emancipator because their sets are always great, and Lula Granji, a small local act from Boulder, Colorado (who will be serving pancakes at their set on Friday morning).
SA: I am excited to see Emancipator because their sets are always great, and Lula Granji, a small local act from Boulder, Colorado (who will be serving pancakes at their set on Friday morning).
TLC: What is your favorite part about volunteering?
MM: Definitely, the behind the scenes…seeing people’s faces and emails and then showing up at the festival and meeting them in person. . . .
SA: I just think a gathering like this in such a beautiful place...the weather here and the scenery is pretty much unobtainable anywhere else. The festival just fosters good connections. Everyone’s really happy to be here and willing to put themselves out and have a good time.
MM: ...and it is a festival. It’s not just a music festival. I love the fact that we have just as many yoga classes andworkshops going on as we do music on the stages. There’s always something to do during the day at ARISE. Sometimes you go to a music festival and you’re chillin’ at your campsite all day (waiting for the music to start). I like that there’s more to it than just the music.
P&CE: I would probably say the music, but we also enjoy all the people we have met. People from all different age and interest groups, from different parts of the country; there are teachers who have taken their summers off to visit festivals. Some of them are forty-somethings like ourselves.
TLC: That is one really cool thing about the festival. There is such a diverse roundup of people here!
P&CE: We’re just having a blast. Our kids are older now, so we’re able to do some different things now, since we’re on our own and we’ve chosen to do this.
P&CE: We’re just having a blast. Our kids are older now, so we’re able to do some different things now, since we’re on our own and we’ve chosen to do this.
TLC: Meagh, earlier on (before we pressed record), you expressed excitement about the yoga classes at ARISE. How are they different from taking a yoga class in the city?
MM: First off, you’re at Sunrise Ranch; it’s also kind of a magical feeling when you have hundreds of people next to you. You don’t get that in a class. You are usually all stuck together in a room. The classes at ARISE are also more guided. It’s not just a yoga instructor making the rounds. At ARISE, the yoga teachers are there to spiritually guide you, as well. There’s a lot more that you can get out of those classes.
MM: First off, you’re at Sunrise Ranch; it’s also kind of a magical feeling when you have hundreds of people next to you. You don’t get that in a class. You are usually all stuck together in a room. The classes at ARISE are also more guided. It’s not just a yoga instructor making the rounds. At ARISE, the yoga teachers are there to spiritually guide you, as well. There’s a lot more that you can get out of those classes.
TLC: How many yoga classes are there this year?
MM: There are about fifteen to twenty instructors. I’m really excited for Bibi McGill (R.R. Shakti); she’s Beyonce’s guitarist but she’s also a yoga instructor. I think it’s also a good platform for people who aren’t that into yoga or in tune with their spirituality to become more so. There’s just so much of it going on.
MM: There are about fifteen to twenty instructors. I’m really excited for Bibi McGill (R.R. Shakti); she’s Beyonce’s guitarist but she’s also a yoga instructor. I think it’s also a good platform for people who aren’t that into yoga or in tune with their spirituality to become more so. There’s just so much of it going on.
TLC: Can you talk a little more about the spirituality surrounding the festival?
SA: ARISE is a very spiritual place for many people. There are a lot of people attending the festival that are very in tune with themselves and other people. I think that’s a large component of the community. People are more willing here than in other places to just openly talk with you and teach you. I like being able to come here and learn.
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