Had today a therapist email me via my website asking about working at festivals, as I've been a festival therapist for quite a few years now. Unfortunately I can't give employment her but emailed back some advice. I thought this may be of interest to anyone on here interested in working at summer festivals.
1. Check out festivals that you are interested in January and contact them ASAP. You have to apply early for many summer time festivals. See if its a music/scene you are interested in. No point going to festivals and not liking reggae bands and drumming workshops. There's a lot of this stuff 🙂
2. Any pitch fee over £300 is a generally too expensive, as it's bloody hard to make a profit.
3. If it sounds too good to be true, it is! Listen to your intuition.
4. A lot of festivals don't like plastic structures to work from. A canvas bell tent about 5 metres in diameter is good value for money, and strong in bad weather.
5. Have a collection of signs and flags to draw attention to your stall. Some festivals are really crap at promoting the therapists.
6. Going from festival to festival can be fun but hard work. Some are well organised, some not so organised. Buy a fold up trolley. You may have to cart your equipment across fields. Never assume you can drive on site and live nearby in your campervan. Always check these points out.
7. Find a good work-fun balance. Find out early what is on and take some time out to enjoy yourself. Even if it's just one band that your are into.
Hope this of help 🙂
Never thought about working at festivals..........
Some additional pointers:
8. The more the festival is about dance music, drugs and young people, the less likely there's an audience for therapy work. The more the festival is for families and the alternative minded, the more likely you have paying punters. This is of course a generalisation.
9. If you can teach something ie drumming, yoga, tai chi etc, often that can help to get your foot in the door.
Summer festivals can be physically hard work and at times annoying ie a sound system playing nearby to 3pm in the morning, but it's amazing how you can get used to it.
But as well as making a few quid, you can meet some amazing clients and exchange new ideas with fellow therapists, which can be inspiring especially if your practice was feeling stagnant.
Certainly keeps you on your toes dealing with people in 30 minute slots, focusing on their needs, and cutting consultations down to a bare minimum.
I ask 4 questions:
1. What do you need from the treatment? (ie bad back from sleeping in a tent.)
2. Is there anything about your health I need to know and you should be telling me? (ie diabetes, BP, screws in joints etc.)
3. Are you on medication? (This is partly a trick question as it makes the client declare more about what they should of told you in question 2.)
4. Are you sensitive to lotions, potions, creams and oils?
That generally sorts about any issues and contraindications.
One of the privileges of doing therapeutic work at a summer festival is that it may be the only time that client will receive a treatment that year, and even the first time they had a massage or other complementary therapy.
Also on a more deeper level, it's about community healing. All the drumming, workshops, saunas, massages, being open to new ideas etc, has a positive effect on the psyche. It's providing a form of healing that we have kind of lost in the Western world and with modern technology (however useful it can be). You could say going back to our tribal roots!
Some additional pointers:
8. The more the festival is about dance music, drugs and young people, the less likely there's an audience for therapy work. The more the festival is for families and the alternative minded, the more likely you have paying punters. This is of course a generalisation.
9. If you can teach something ie drumming, yoga, tai chi etc, often that can help to get your foot in the door.
Now you are really getting me thinking....the ink is hardly dry on my tai chi teaching certificate.......