Volunteers Required! Coventry Life Festival 2017

Age Friendly City Coventry (AFC), is part of the World Health Organisation Global Network of Age Friendly cities. It is the world’s first AFC to be co-delivered by a partnership of a Charity (Age UK Coventry), Local Authority (Coventry City Council) and University (Coventry University).

Citizen social scientists drive this initiative by identifying local challenges to be addressed, co-designing solutions and then co-delivering these with local partners.

In recognition of Coventry’s unique approach to developing an age friendly city we have been selected by the West Midlands academic Health Science Network and “the world’s largest health intervention”, eithealth.eu  to deliver a vitality festival and toolkit, as a means of health education and to celebrate active ageing. The Coventry Life festival represents the first festival as a means to engage citizens in health innovation in Europe. It will open on Sunday the 1^st October 2017 to coincide with International Older Peoples Day.

The festival programme has been co-created with the university by local older people and stakeholders from Coventry Older Voices, city council and NHS staff, the voluntary sector, local media and business.

The Sunday Festival is aimed at families.  It will be opened by the Lord Mayor of Coventry and will include over 100 different activities such as

Performances from

• the local Shine on Theatre group (over 50’s group, some with early signs of dementia)
• The nationally acclaimed Vamos theatre group, using art to explore issues around ageing and the use of theatre for training for health professionals and for communicating health messages
• A local older couple, featured in the Voltarol TV advert, leading a dance performance and workshop.

Workshops including:

• Open citizens’ arts and crafts, as a playful mechanism for problem solving in communities
• Demystifying IT, Ipad and get online sessions
• Pre-retirement course
• Ideas factory, dragons den pitching of local social innovations
• Move it or lose it, as featured on the BBC documentary of the same name

The market hall with feature 20+ health information stands, further activities at the festival will include health checks, showcasing new technologies, giving massages, cook and eat well advice, psychological therapies and many others.

The Monday festival (conference) aims to attract a third researchers, a third businesses and health professionals and a third citizens and will include many of the aforementioned activities as well as
keynotes from EIT Health, the Chief Executive of the combined authority and West Midlands Academic Health Science Network, Dr William Bird MBE and others.

Workshops will include living labs for health innovation, IBM hackathon, dragons den competition for citizen ideas from Sunday, Lego creative play to understand the ageing journey and many others.

We are now seeking a team of volunteers to work with us to deliver this exciting and innovative festival.  If you would like to apply for any of these positions or would like more information, please contact Esme Spurling on ab5021@coventry.ac.uk  Specifically we are looking to recruit:

Information, Welcome and Orientation Volunteer

We are looking for six volunteers to work to support members of the Operations team in issues of site logistics and information.

This role will include staffing the festival information desk - welcoming visitors to the festival site, helping them navigate the activities on offer and answering any questions.

Media and Documentation Volunteer

We are looking for two volunteers to assist our media and documentation team.

You will be working with the team as the film and take photographs during the event, to capture all the activities that will be taking place over the two days of the programme.

Workshops Volunteer

We need six volunteers to work on a variety of different workshops that will be running as part of the festival.  These volunteers will be assisting with setting up, recruiting participants and supporting the smooth running of the workshops that will be taking place throughout the festival weekend.

These will include:

Path of Passion – This activity will involve encouraging visitors to the festival to create their own ‘Bucket List’, encouraging them to explore their hopes for their own healthy ageing.

Walking Tours – Supporting a local performance company in their walking tours of the City, talking to participants about their experiences and recording their feedback.

Marketplace Volunteers

Our Marketplace will be an information hub for organisations who offer services to people services and support for a healthy ageing.  We are looking for four volunteers to work with our team on managing the Marketplace activity. This will include setting up and assisting stallholders with the activities on their stalls, answering questions from the public and supporting the Marketplace Manager.

Performances Volunteer

Working to support our programme of performances and presentations in the Boxed space at Fargo Village we are looking for four volunteers for the following tasks:

Support theatrical performances

Support the technical team in the support of artistic performances – including provision of equipment for subtitling performances

Support for promenade performances by local artistic companies which will take place across the festival site.

Marketing and Communication Volunteer

There is scope for one person in this role to be part of the team in the run up to the festival as well as over the festival weekend.

During the festival we will need two volunteers to help with a range of tasks relating to marketing and press, this will include:

Supporting the Marketing and Press Officer in promoting the festival by:

• Helping maintain the website and social media presence in the run up and during the festival
• Distributing print and encouraging further visitors to the festival
• Supporting press activity relating to the festival.

Volunteer Co-ordinator Support Volunteer

There is scope for one person in this role to be part of the team in the run up to the festival as well as over the festival weekend.

We are looking for one volunteer to work with our Volunteer Co-ordinator in organising schedules and tasks for our volunteer team over the weekend. 

Conference Volunteer

There is scope for one person in this role to be part of the team in the run up to the festival as well as over the festival weekend.

We are looking for three volunteers to work with us on the Conference on the second day of the festival. This roles for this post will include:

Liaising with speakers who are part of the Conference programme.

Supporting Conference logistics – helping participants with information and answering their questions.