Volunteer Call Out – Help Run Soar Sound At Riverside Festival
Soar Sound is looking for volunteers to help run our presence at Riverside Festival on Saturday 6 June and Sunday 7 June 2026.
We will be based in the Castle Gardens area, where Soar Sound will operate as a talks and story-gathering platform. Our role will be to help capture voices, conversations, reflections and local stories from the festival, working alongside the University of Leicester Heritage Hub/Learning Zone and other community media partners.
We are looking for people who already have relevant experience, although that does not have to be radio experience. Equivalent experience is strongly encouraged. This might include community media, journalism, podcasting, oral history, event production, arts participation, local publishing, photography, documentary work, public engagement, volunteer coordination, technical production, social media, facilitation or community organising.
Partner organisations, including the Evington Echo, Documentary Media Centre and Loughborough Stories project, will also be taking part.
What Soar Sound Will Be Doing
Soar Sound will broadcast live from Riverside Festival. We will also gather recorded material that can be reviewed, edited and prepared for later broadcast and online publication.
Our aim is to create content that feels present at the festival while remaining properly managed, consented and editorially responsible. This may include short interviews, recorded conversations, vox pops, ambient sound, presenter links, reflective heritage pieces and follow-up features.
We want the Soar Sound presence to be welcoming, organised and purposeful. The focus is on helping people tell stories well, supporting volunteer development, and creating material that can be used after the event in programmes, podcasts, web posts, social media and partner reporting.
Volunteer Roles Needed
Set-Up And Close-Down Crew: This role will involve helping set up tables, signage, recording spaces, equipment, cables, chairs, display material and basic site arrangements. It is suited to people who are practical, punctual and comfortable helping with event logistics.
Welcome Desk And Contributor Liaison: This role will involve greeting visitors, explaining what Soar Sound is doing, checking whether people are willing to be recorded, helping with consent, and directing contributors to the right person. It needs confidence, clarity and a calm manner with the public.
Community Reporters: This role will involve speaking with festival visitors, stallholders, artists, community groups and partner organisations. Reporters will gather short interviews and reflections, either on site or around Castle Gardens. This role suits people with experience in interviewing, journalism, oral history, community research, podcasting or public engagement.
Discussion Hosts And Presenters: This role will involve hosting planned or semi-planned conversations, introducing guests, framing topics clearly, and keeping discussions focused. It requires confidence with spoken presentation, topic handling and respectful moderation.
Audio Recordists And Technical Assistants: This role will involve supporting recording equipment, microphones, levels, headphones, file saving, batteries, charging, backups and basic troubleshooting. It does not require broadcast engineering experience, but it does require practical confidence with audio or media equipment.
Audio Loggers And Content Notes Volunteers: This role will involve keeping track of what has been recorded, who took part, what permissions were given, what the main topic was, and whether anything needs editorial review. This work is essential for making sure material can be used properly after the event.
Social Media And Web Support: This role will involve helping capture non-live updates, photographs where appropriate, short text summaries and partner acknowledgements. It will need care with wording, because we must not imply that recorded content is being broadcast live.
Post-Event Editors And Production Support: This role will involve helping after the festival with listening back, selecting clips, preparing programme notes, drafting summaries, editing audio, and supporting the creation of follow-up broadcast or podcast material.
Debrief And Reporting Support: This role will involve helping gather volunteer feedback, community themes, participation numbers, learning points and recommendations for future events. This will support the final partner report after the weekend.
What The Work Will Involve
Volunteers may be asked to support public-facing engagement, recorded interviews, practical site duties, guest coordination, contributor consent, audio capture, content logging, basic safeguarding awareness, social media support and post-event review.
The work will be structured but flexible. Riverside Festival is a busy public event, so volunteers will need to be comfortable working in a lively outdoor environment where plans may need to adapt during the day.
Level Of Commitment
These are all volunteer roles.
We are asking for people who can offer at least one focused shift during the festival weekend. A typical shift will be around two to three hours, although longer involvement will be welcome where agreed in advance.
We are also looking for a smaller number of experienced volunteers who can help with planning before the event and review after the event. This may include one pre-event briefing, practical preparation, rota planning, and post-event production or reporting.
The main commitment points are likely to be one short planning or briefing session before the festival, at least one shift on Saturday 6 June or Sunday 7 June, and a short debrief afterwards, especially for people involved in reporting, editing or partner coordination.
What Volunteers Will Get Out Of It
This is a practical opportunity to help shape a visible community media presence at one of Leicester’s major public festivals.
Volunteers will be able to use their existing skills in a real community setting, meet people from other local media and heritage organisations, contribute to Soar Sound’s programme development, and help gather material that reflects local voices and experiences.
For people with experience in community media, journalism, heritage, arts participation, podcasting, documentary work or public engagement, this is a chance to work collaboratively on a focused, real-world production. It will also help strengthen the Leicester Community Media Network by bringing people and partner organisations together around a shared public project.
Where appropriate, volunteers will be credited for their contribution, thanked publicly, and invited to take part in follow-up production or future Soar Sound activity.
Who This Is For
This opportunity is for people who have transferable experience and can work responsibly with the public.
You do not need to have radio experience. You do need to bring relevant skills, reliability, good judgement and a willingness to work as part of a small organised team.
This may suit people with experience in community reporting, interviewing, event support, local newsletters, podcasting, documentary media, oral history, public engagement, voluntary sector communications, technical production, arts projects, heritage projects or community organising.
Register Your Interest
To register your interest using the form below, or contact Soar Sound with a short note explaining your relevant experience, which role or roles you are most interested in, whether you are available on Saturday 6 June, Sunday 7 June or both, whether you can help before or after the festival as well as during the weekend, and any access needs or practical considerations we should know about.
We will then follow up with a short online briefing, proposed rota and role allocation.
Riverside Festival gives Soar Sound a useful opportunity to show how community media can work in public: organised, welcoming, careful with people’s stories, and rooted in local participation. We are looking for experienced volunteers who can help make that happen.
