Winterfolk Timelines

For Insiders

Artistic Director Time Line

 

September

Planning & Outreach

  • Confirm the festival dates, venues and number of available performance slots.
  • Determine:
    • The number of artists required.
    • The number of sets per day.
    • The balance of solo artists, duos and bands.
    • The balance of headliners and emerging artists.
    • The budget and artist fees.
    • Which artists from previous years should be invited to return.
    • The initial artist wish list.
    • Which priority artists should be contacted first.
    • Which artists with early availability can be confirmed.

Volunteer Timeline

See Supporting Documents at Bottom of This Column

September

Volunteer Coordinator Timeline

  • Confirm the festival dates and operating hours with the Director. Winterfolk typically takes place on the second weekend in February, from Thursday to Sunday or Friday to Sunday.
  • Determine the volunteer shift times.
  • Confirm the festival venue with the Director. Winterfolk is currently held at the Tranzac Club.
    • Determine the venue’s sound capabilities and technical requirements. Establish the number of sound volunteers required and the necessary qualifications. Wayne Smith, the festival Technical Director (“TD”), must approve all sound volunteers. The Tranzac Club provides a backline in each room, so little additional sound equipment is required. The Main Hall has a digital soundboard that only Tranzac technical personnel are permitted to operate. A Tranzac sound technician will operate the board throughout the festival.
    • Confirm the available parking for artists and attendees and identify the nearest public transit stops.

October

Main Booking Push

  • Continue reaching out to priority artists.
  • Send offers to first-round artists.
  • Begin filling:
    • Headliner slots.
    • Featured slots.
    • Festival showcases.
    • Afternoon and early performance slots.
  • Track artist responses and availability.
  • Begin building tentative daily lineups.
  • Identify gaps in genre, instrumentation and lineup diversity.

October 

  • Together with the Director and TD, work out exactly how many volunteers will be needed and for which positions. For Winterfolk 2026, the following arrangement worked fairly well.
  • Living Room and Southern Cross Room:
    • MC and Stage Manager duties performed by one volunteer.
    • Sound technician.
  • Main Stage Room:
    • MC.
    • Stage Manager.
    • Sound technician to relieve the Tranzac sound technician during meal breaks.
    • Usher to prevent bottlenecks at the entrance by guiding attendees into the seating area. The usher ensures that accessible seating is reserved for those who need it, seats attendees with accessibility needs and provides assistance as required.
  • Overall Venue:
    • Door personnel, also known as Greeters: Two volunteers are needed to collect payments and issue wristbands.
    • Usher: One volunteer is needed to open the Main Stage doors for attendees with mobility challenges.
    • Merchandise table: Two volunteers are needed to staff the table.
    • Equipment lock-up: One volunteer.
  • Photographers: At least one photographer should be on-site throughout the festival. Aim to recruit approximately six photographers. They are not assigned shifts and may come and go as they please.
  • Setup and Teardown: The Tranzac Club requires the Winterfolk team to set up the chairs and put them away after the festival. Tables and chairs must also be moved between rooms as needed. Several volunteers are required at the beginning and end of the festival.

November

Fill the Lineup

  • Send the second round of artist offers.
  • Follow up with artists who have not responded.
  • Fill the remaining performance slots.
  • Confirm artist fees and contracts.
  • Begin assigning specific venues and performance times.
  • Review the complete lineup to ensure sufficient variety.

November – January

  • Monitor the volunteers@winterfolk.com email account daily.
    • Webmail: ElephantHost Webmail.
    • Username: wfvolunteers.
    • Password: [Enter password].
  • Most volunteers apply by completing the form on the Winterfolk website. The form generates an email containing the applicant’s contact information, preferred roles and preferred shifts. This email is sent to volunteers@winterfolk.com.
  • The website is intended to send each applicant an automatic acknowledgement, but this feature did not work in 2026. If the automatic response is not working, send an acknowledgement to each applicant. Do not state or imply that the applicant has been accepted. Thank the person for applying and explain that the Winterfolk team will provide scheduling and duty information later.
  • Create a volunteer scheduling worksheet in Excel. Refer to “Winterfolk Volunteers Scheduling Worksheet 2026.” This is a private working document and is not shared with Winterfolk Insiders. Include all relevant information for each volunteer:
    • Name.
    • Telephone number.
    • Email address.
    • Preferred role.
    • Preferred shifts.
    • Biography.
    • Previous Winterfolk volunteer experience.
    • Whether the volunteer has been added to the coordinator’s phone contacts.
  • Do not use a self-service online scheduling system. Build the schedule using the coordinator’s private working worksheet. Once the schedule is complete or nearly complete, provide it to the webmaster for publication on the Winterfolk website.
  • Create a draft spreadsheet for the published volunteer schedule. Refer to “Volunteer Schedule 2026 DRAFT.” As the schedule is completed, provide updates to the webmaster. The schedule should be posted on the website by mid-January so all volunteers can review it.
  • Create training documentation for each volunteer role. Describe the duties as concisely as possible and include only essential information. Volunteers assigned exclusively to setup and teardown are not required to attend training.

“`

December

Finalize

    • Complete all outstanding artist bookings.
    • Confirm all artist agreements.
    • Finalize:
      • Artist names.
      • Performance times.
      • Venues.
      • Artist fees.
      • Lineup configurations.
    • Collect artist biographies, photographs and promotional materials.
    • Identify cancellations or potential problems as early as possible.

December Included in Above

January

Production & Promotion

  • Complete all outstanding artist bookings.
  • Confirm all artist agreements.
  • Finalize:
    • Artist names.
    • Performance times.
    • Venues.
    • Artist fees.
    • Lineup configurations.
  • Collect artist biographies, photographs and promotional materials.
  • Very Important … reach out for stage plots.
  • Identify cancellations or potential problems as early as possible.

January

Push

  • Hold a volunteer training session in late January or early February, ideally one week before the festival. Bring printed copies of the role descriptions prepared for training. Work with the Director to find a suitable venue. Free Times Cafe has been used in the past.
  • Work with the Director to establish ticket-admission procedures:
    • Determine the wristband colour for each day.
    • Confirm that enough wristbands are available.
    • Determine who will collect cash payments and how often the cash will be collected from the door.
    • Provide Greeters with printed lists of ticket buyers.
    • Greeters must confirm each attendee’s proof of payment, check the attendee’s name off the list and issue the appropriate wristband.

Late January

    • Hold a volunteer training session in late January or early February, ideally one week before the festival. Bring printed copies of the role descriptions prepared for training. Work with the Director to find a suitable venue. Free Times Cafe has been used in the past.
    • Work with the Director to establish ticket-admission procedures:
      • Determine the wristband colour for each day.
      • Confirm that enough wristbands are available.
      • Determine who will collect cash payments and how often the cash will be collected.
      • Provide Greeters with printed lists of ticket buyers.
      • Greeters must confirm each attendee’s proof of payment, check the attendee’s name off the list and issue the appropriate wristband.

“`

Early February

Final Checks

  • Reconfirm every artist.
  • Reconfirm performance times and venues.
  • Resolve substitutions and cancellations.
  • Finalize artist information for the festival program and website.
  • Send final schedules to the artists.
  • Ensure that the production and venue teams have complete lineup information.

Early February

  • Create posters displaying the festival performance schedule. Refer to “Performance Schedule Poster Sunday.” Have the posters laminated by a printer or at Staples. Laminating may cost approximately $100.

Days Before the Festival

  • Print the Equipment Lock-up Chart and keep it with the equipment tags.
  • Print and laminate the festival performance schedules:
    • One for each performance room.
    • One for the common area.
    • Several for the Main Stage.
  • Print the artist biographies for the MCs to use when introducing performers.
  • Print the MC’s general announcements, including:
    • Welcome to attendees.
    • Land acknowledgement.
    • Sponsor acknowledgements.
  • Gather the Winterfolk buttons and give them to the Greeters. The Greeters will give one button to each volunteer upon arrival.

Festival Week

  • Final artist confirmations
  • Artist check-in/contact system
  • Handle last-minute cancellations or schedule changes
  • Make sure artists know where/when to perform
  • Keep communication open between artists, venues and production

Winterfolk On Site

During Festival Time

Day One

  • Place a trained volunteer at the entrance as soon as access to the venue is available. Setup volunteers, Winterfolk Insiders and artists will arrive before the doors officially open. They will need wristbands and directions to the performance rooms, Equipment Lock-up area and other festival locations. The door volunteer must be in position before other setup work begins.
  • Setup:
    • Entrance:
      • Set up the ticket table at the front door.
      • Obtain the cash floats from the Director.
      • Give the cash boxes to the Merchandise Table and door staff.
      • Give the attendee list to the door staff.
      • Give the wristbands to the door staff.
      • Ensure that the performance schedule is displayed on the ticket table.
    • Main Stage:
      • Arrange chairs in the Main Stage room and other rooms as required. Move tables as needed.
      • Create an accessible seating area near the room entrance and place “Accessible Seating” signs on the tables.
      • Hang Winterfolk banners behind the performers. Position each banner so that it remains fully visible while performers are onstage. Bring large safety pins.
      • Display performance-schedule posters around the room.

       

Support Documents

Wintrfolk Volunteers Scheduling Spreadsheet 

Winterfolk Volunteer Schedule On Line 

Volunteer Duties / Job Descriptions 

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