Program Details

• Levels of Volunteering: Requirements and Benefits
• Festival Departments: What Volunteers Do at the Festival
• Additional Ways to Volunteer

Requirements and Benefits

Commitment may be a touchy subject, but we're only asking for a few days in January. Volunteers can choose between two different levels of commitment: Sign-Up or Full-Time. In short, the Sign-Up program offers flexible scheduling you choose, with one film voucher for every four hours worked. Full-Time Volunteers work every day on an assigned schedule, but can see an unlimited number of films. Here are more details:

Volunteer Requirements

1. Sign-Up Volunteers, 24+ hours, you sign up for your schedule:

• Commit to a minimum of 24 total hours during the Festival; sign up for more hours as you desire.
• Sign up in advance for specific shift times of your choosing, as available. Shifts on weekends are in short supply, you will need to plan on about 3-4 days, at LEAST two of which are weekdays or a portion thereof, to meet the minimum requirement.
• Attend pre-Festival trainings and New Volunteer Orientation.
• Receive, read, and respond to email, our primary mode of communication.

2. Full-Time Volunteers, 80+ hours, we assign a Full-Time schedule:

• Commit to a preassigned Festival schedule of 8 to 10 hours each day (approximate total of 80-90 volunteer hours).
• Be available to work the entire Festival period as determined by job assignment (varies).
• Attend pre-Festival trainings.
• Receive, read, and respond to email, our primary mode of communication.

Volunteer Benefits

Volunteers are essential to the Festival. We recognize the time they devote to the Festival and provide benefits to them as a thank-you for their service. Benefits are provided in conjunction with the number of hours volunteered, and for Full-Time Volunteers, the skills needed for the position held.

All Volunteers

• Festival Access: Volunteer Credentials allow access to Festival panels and some official Festival venues on a space-available basis (similar credential costs $200). We also offer a few screenings just for volunteers. Most of all, we want to be sure volunteers can see films. For almost every screening, we set aside a certain number of tickets only for volunteers. Film access depends on the number of hours volunteered:
  • 24 hours: Receive one volunteer voucher for every four hours volunteered. Volunteer vouchers are redeemable for one film ticket for the volunteer through the volunteer or waitlist line on a space-available basis. Vouchers and credentials are nontransferable and must be used by the volunteer with her or his credential.
  • 40 hours: Benefits above, plus two guest waitlist ticket vouchers. Another guest voucher can be earned at 60 hours.
  • 80 hours/Full-Time: Vouchers are replaced by a Volunteer Photo Credential, allowing the volunteer access to unlimited Festival screenings through the volunteer line on a space available basis (when not volunteering, of course!); also four guest waitlist ticket vouchers, if local/providing own lodging.
• Uniform: Jacket and Volunteer Credential.
• Party: Ticket to the Staff and Volunteer Opening Night Party.
• Refreshments: Bagels and other light snacks are provided at the offices, venues, and theatres where volunteers are working. However, meals are the volunteers' responsibility to bring or eat prior to shifts.
• 100 Club: Volunteers giving 100 hours or more are members of our 100 Club, recognized on their credential along with a name listing at the Festival's Awards Ceremony.
• Shuttle Service Discount: Available to Park City from SLC Airport.

Full-Time Volunteers (those with a schedule assigned to them by the Festival) also receive:

• Photo Credential: Provides volunteer access to an unlimited number of panels and films on a space-available basis.
• Locals: Full-Time Volunteers who provide their own lodging receive four guest waitlist ticket vouchers.
• Limited Festival lodging may be provided for non-Park City residents who are alumni volunteers in need of lodging. Festival lodging is highly unlikely for first-year volunteers.
• For a minority of Full-Time positions - typically those requiring management experience, very specific skills, or commitments longer than 13 days - a predetermined expense reimbursement will be provided. Specifically, Group leader, Specialist, Assistant Manager and Coordinator positions receive a set reimbursement at the end of the Festival. Managers receive a limited reimbursement at the end of the Festival, and a tiered structure of additional reimbursement to help cover travel costs. For details, contact the volunteer department.

What You'll Be Doing as a Volunteer

Locations

The majority of volunteer opportunities occur in various locations throughout Park City, Utah. Volunteers should plan to use the FREE Festival Shuttle System. Volunteers from Salt Lake City and the surrounding areas often volunteer in Park City. We welcome and need them but cannot provide lodging! If you plan to drive to Park City, we recommend selecting volunteer positions at Eccles, Holiday, Headquarters, Prospector, or Temple Theatre. You'll need to park in a designated lot and take a shuttle to your assigned venue, and these five theatres are most conveniently located to shuttles from parking areas.

Outside of Park City, the Festival operates theatres in Salt Lake City, Ogden, and at Sundance Resort as extensions of the Festival. These positions are mainly sign-up positions, which do not include lodging for alumni or new volunteers. If you plan to volunteer outside of Park City, opportunities are only available in our Theatre and Ticketing Departments.

Festival Departments with Volunteers

There are so many ways volunteers can get involved at the Festival that we couldn't even list all of them here! Read on to learn more about our many departments and opportunities.

Departments are listed in order of demand for new volunteers. In other words, we really need you in our theatres! More than 60 percent of all volunteers are needed in our Theatre Operations Department.

Theatre Operations Department

Full-Time and Sign-Up positions at theatres in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden, or Sundance Resort

Be at the front lines of the Festival! The Theatre Operations Department operates each theatre, from ticket-taking to crowd control, as an organized and cohesive team. Ready for hundreds of people to come and rush you at the same time? Excellent with customer service and exceptionally reliable? Come be a key volunteer in the Theatre Operations Department, helping prepare the theatres and getting patrons in their seats to enjoy the films.

Ticketing: Theatre Box Office Volunteers

Full-Time and Sign-Up positions at box offices in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden, or Sundance Resort

Be where all the action happens... and keep track of it too! As a Theatre Box Office Volunteer, you'll distribute, collect, and account for all tickets at our theatres. These volunteers are responsible for distributing all waitlist numbers, selling waitlist tickets, handling cash, inputting admission information into the ticketing system, and reconciling all sales. Must enjoy multitasking in a fast-paced environment, computers, cash handling, and keeping people in line! If you like keeping busy, this is the spot for you.

Ticketing: Main Box Office, Pass & Package Office, Internal Ticketing, Info Booths, Balloting, and Attendance

Full-Time and Sign-Up positions at various locations throughout Park City

Do you like wrangling the masses and taming die-hard Festivalgoers who have been waiting in line (sometimes overnight!) just to get day-of-show tickets? Are you a self-conceived expert on the Festival? Then a volunteer position within the Ticketing Department is for you! Whether you're updating availability boards, assisting in filling ticket orders, answering patrons' questions about films and theatres, or counting ballots for competition films, you'll be an integral part of assisting Festival attendees to participate and navigate the Festival. Best of all, you'll be able to schmooze with staff, volunteers, and other Festivalgoers to get the latest scoop on Festival films. Since most Ticketing positions require working with people, customer service skills and a good sense of humor are a must.

Ticketing: Credentials Volunteers

Full-Time and Sign-Up positions based at some box offices and Headquarters

Take pictures of future stars for their credential badges and handle the hordes with a smile as they all arrive to say "Cheese." Computer skills and minimal photography skills a plus (this means you don't cut off their heads in the photos). Locations as assigned in the Headquarters Ballroom, the Sales and Industry Office at Headquarters, and at the Pass/Package Sales Office near the Main Box Office at Gateway.

Merchandise Department

Full-Time and Sign-Up positions based at Festival stores throughout Park City

Interested in working in a lively and fast-paced environment and interacting with our Festival patrons? Are you a souvenir hound with shot glasses from every state you've ever visited? Join our merchandise stores! Cash handling experience is a must and a background in inventory, stocking, and/or building displays is a bonus. Most important? Be willing and able to help our customers.

Production Department

Full-Time positions only mostly roving or based at warehouse

The Production Department is the behind-the-scenes team that works with all Festival departments to set up, maintain, and tear down the Festival. We are movers and shakers, buyers and makers, doers and fixers. If you are active and independent, don't want to be stuck in one place behind a desk, and don't mind hard physical work, then these are the jobs for you. The Production Team is looking for volunteers in the following areas:

• Warehouse Runners - Assist the warehouse manager in receiving and distributing Festival materials and publications. This is a great way to see all the Festival venues. To be a part of this great team, you must be able to drive in snowy conditions and do fairly frequent heavy lifting.
• Works Crew - This elite division of the Production Team is responsible for keeping Festival venues clear of snow and ice, maintaining outdoor heating, and working with Production in setup, maintenance, and teardown.

Transportation Volunteers

Full-Time positions roving throughout Park City

Do you want to see EVERYBODY that comes to the Festival? Are you a natural leader, the kind of person that likes to tell people where to go? Do you LOVE to meet people and talk film? This job might be for you. Do you want to work shorter shifts and see more films? Are you impervious to cold? Then this job is DEFINITELY for you. Our people are the face of the Festival to our patrons. Last year, we made more than 350,000 good impressions on filmmakers and patrons from all over the world by helping them find their way between films. Being a transportation volunteer is fun, rewarding, and cool.

Volunteer Department

Full-Time and Sign-Up positions based at Headquarters or floating to jobs and locations everywhere

To coordinate and support volunteers, the Volunteer Department operates a volunteer headquarters (the Volunteer Villa), answers volunteer questions, addresses scheduling issues, and fulfills Festival requests for volunteers. With a jungle cat's flexible agility and a love for meeting hundreds of people, volunteers in the Volunteer Department may help run the Volunteer Villa, fill various open positions as a floating volunteer, or assist behind the scenes.

Non-Theatre Venue Volunteers

Full-Time and Sign-Up positions based at specific Festival Venues in Park City

Help with setup and decor, assist with deliveries, check credentials, enact crowd control, answer questions about the venue, help with recycling and trash, take daily counts of visitors, restock sponsor product, coat check, and help with tear-down at one of the Festival venues. Meet both famous and infamous people. Most of all, have a great time with Festival patrons, staff, and fellow volunteers. You will be assigned to only one of the following venues:

• Music Café - Programmed by ASCAP, performances by emerging and established artists. Must LOVE music!
• Filmmaker Lodge - A casual meeting space for filmmakers, industry, and press, and lively panel discussions daily. Featuring a café and lounge. Must LOVE filmmakers!
• Headquarters - The working hub of the Festival. Home of Press, Filmmakers, Sales and Industry Office, Corporate, Patron Circle, Volunteer Villa, and Programming offices.
• Sundance House Presented by HP - A hospitality venue presented by our Presenting Sponsors HP.
• New Frontier - Showcases artist installations, live performances, thought-provoking panels, and a café. Volunteers may additionally serve as docents for New Frontier. Must LOVE art!

Press Department

Full-Time and Sign-Up positions based at Headquarters, Holiday Cinemas, and roving

Are your role models Anderson Cooper and Brian Williams? Can't get enough of the AP, BBC, or CNN? Do magazine subscriptions crowd your mailboxes? Come join the Festival Press team. In the Press Office at Festival Headquarters you may be involved in creating and maintaining a welcoming space in the press room; assisting with the accreditation process (saying "no" can be FUN!) and making information packs; logging and filing press coverage; and office duties such as routing phone calls, photocopying, and inputting data. At various theatres and venues, you may be wrangling camera crews and photographers (a bit like wrangling cats) or assisting journalists with seating, ticketing, and the like.

We are looking for people who are positive, energetic, and willing to get involved in a very busy, high-pressure environment. Did we mention busy? You need to have an extremely high level of accuracy in your written work, be able to work on your own initiative, and be excited about being busy.

IT Department

Sign-Up and Full-Time positions based at Headquarters and lots of roving

Enjoy the films and atmosphere at the Sundance Film Festival? Want to see how the Sundance IT Department impacts those films and atmosphere? As an IT Volunteer you'll be the hidden driving force behind all Festival employees as they crank through the 10 days of mayhem! You must have IT skills to competently set up PCs, troubleshoot simple problems, run network cable, and work under pressure. We prefer that you have or are currently working in the IT field.

As an IT Volunteer you will primarily be helping with the deployment, set up, and tear down of equipment used during the Festival. The time in-between set up and tear down will be spent helping provide support for our end users. We operate a tight, smooth running ship where everyone brings their "A" game to work. Think you got the skills? We'd be glad to have you working with us.

Logistics Volunteers

Full-Time and Sign-Up positions based at Headquarters and roving

Did you love CB radios when you were young? Do you like keeping track of people, places, and things? Do you like giving or distributing items? This department includes radios and accessories, cell phones, security, car rentals and sponsor vehicles, accident reports, parking passes, uniforms, staff and volunteer check-in, food boxes, and Festival pizza. Volunteers in Logistics may be helping to distribute items, equipment, and food; answer phones, troubleshoot cell phone and radio problems; retrieve and package equipment; and learn the behind-the-scenes workings of the Festival while having fun.

Accounting Department

Full-Time positions only based at Silver Star Offices

Do you find yourself lying awake at night counting beans instead of sheep? Does your heart leap for joy when friends ask for your help in reconciling their checkbooks? Do you silently celebrate when you come across a 33-percent off sale that requires you to calculate the discount on your own? Can you proudly wear your Scarlet Accounting "A" as you represent our uncharacteristically fun, witty, and energetic Accounting Department? Then we want you to be amongst our few and proud! Volunteers in the Accounting Department collect, audit, reconcile, and prepare deposits for all merchandise and screening receipts during the Festival. Accounting Volunteers split their time between the Finance Office and theatre venues in Park City and Salt Lake City where they provide support to the Box Office staff. Accounting Volunteers must possess strong reconciliation skills, be willing to handle/transport cash, and be able to work and communicate effectively with multiple departments.

Film Office

Full-Time positions only based at Headquarters and roving

The Filmmaker Office is responsible for a variety of invited Festival guests--first and foremost, the film directors. We also take care of various cast and crew; cinematographers, screenwriters, editors, and producers; as well as jurors and panelists. Contrary to popular belief, we do not take care of Paris Hilton.

Along with maintaining our cool at all times with smiles on our faces and eye rolls only in the back office, we are responsible for coordinating travel, tickets, and credentials for the above guests, gathering information for Festival publications, and wrangling guests once at the Festival.

Our volunteers at the Festival answer questions from bewildered filmmakers (knowledge of other languages is a helpful skill), fulfill ticket orders, assist on-site at first screenings, and say "yes" and "no" with equal kindness.

Corporate Department

Full-Time positions only based at Headquarters

The Corporate Department provides support, client management, and benefit administration to all corporate supporters of the Sundance Film Festival, including Official Sponsors like HP, Sundance Channel, and Stella Artois®. The Corporate Festival Headquarters office serves as the hub for on-site ticketing for all corporate supporters and is the main source of information regarding the Festival event calendar. Corporate Festival staff serves as the direct link to all corporate supporters and are on-site to directly assist with branding and activation plans, client entertainment, and event management. As a Corporate Volunteer, you will provide superior customer service to all corporate supporters and their guests, assist with reserved seating roping in theatres, and provide support for on-site activations and events, as needed.

Additional Ways to Volunteer

Extra Fest Volunteer Opportunities

Pre- and post-Festival volunteer opportunities run from November 1-February 10. No advance commitment required. Once you are selected as a Festival Volunteer, just watch your email for these additional opportunities, sign up, and come. If you have committed to working at least 24 hours during the Festival, the Extra Fest hours volunteered count toward your benefits.

Year-Round Volunteer Opportunities

The Sundance Film Festival is one of the programs of the nonprofit Sundance Institute. The Institute needs volunteers for its operations and programs throughout the year, all of which support the development of independent storytelling in film and theatre. Opportunities are typically advertised to Alumni Volunteers via email, but more information can be found at sundance.org.