Back to the list of speakers
Back to the programme

  The role of volunteers in dramatising events: The Andilly Medieval Festivals as an example. Where does their success come from?

Vincent HUMBERT - President of Andilly Loisirs, France

 

 

Presentation by the Andilly Loisirs Association

• 4 events: the Andilly Medieval Festivals, Father Christmas Village, the Forest of the Mills, art exhibitions
• missions
• volunteers and employees

Video of the Medieval Festivals

The Medieval Festivals: a story beginning 10 years ago

1995: Vincent Humbert rises to the presidency of the Andilly Loisirs Association

Andilly is a commune split into three independent hamlets: Charly, Saint Symphorien, and Jussy. The commune has been subjected to the Annecy and Lake Geneva basin's economic and real estate pressure.

It is in this particular context that the idea, and then the will, emerged to create an event unifying the three villages across the commune of Andilly.
Collectively-organised events already existed in the region. The Festival of Light in Lyon, the commemoration of L'Escalade in Geneva, and the Return from the Mountain Pastures in Annecy are a few examples.

1996: The first Medieval Festival is prepared within two months. It takes place in the village of Charly, and attendance exceeds all expectations. 1,500 visitors are expected and 3,000 come.

Armed with this success, the decision is made to have the event again the following year, expanding the event's duration (from one to two days), the number of activities, the quality of services, but especially involving more volunteers and humanitarian, social, and cultural associations.

1997: The second Medieval Festival attracts 6,000 visitors.

The success raises questions: the setting up and taking down of the event imposes restrictions. The event organised in the small village brings daily nuisances for residents. But the event is able to meet its objectives: it breathes an economic momentum into the sector and plays a socially uniting role.

So it becomes a matter of finding a solution: a site with scattered forests and clearings, with two mills, one of which is in ruins, stretching over 7 hectares between the three hamlets. By dint of enthusiasm and arguments, the owner finally agrees to sell it to the commune so that it can be rehabilitated by the association.
The association commits itself to the commune so that the park will cost it nothing (the association pays the balance corresponding to the non-subsidized portion).

1999: 4th Medieval Festival in the village of Charly, 9,000 tickets, 10 associations involved

2000: 5th Medieval Festival organised in Saint Symphorien around a vicarage being renovated by the association.

The association hires the first employees (publicly-assisted jobs) and thus begins a fruitful collaboration between employees and volunteers.

2002: For the first time, the Andilly Medieval Festival takes place on the site of the mills.
12,000 visitors over two weekends.
Creation of an integration workshop within the association.

2005: The 8th Andilly Medieval Festival attracts more than 30,000 visitors.
30 associations present on-site. 
30 employees work year-round in the association.
1,000 volunteers.
Sales figure: € 480,000, of which € 360,000 is from tickets.

Volunteer work, a success for the association...

Volunteer work, a springboard towards profitability and a boost for development.

The Andilly Medieval Festivals are made possible by the involvement of 1,000 volunteers every year. Volunteers hold all the positions during the Medieval Festivals—in troupes, as performers, and for the feasts. This is also the case in the day-to-day management and policy of the association to which they bring multiple skills: as architect, accountant, heavy vehicle driver, manual worker, administrative director, computer specialist, etc. Volunteering wears a thousand masks in the association.

The massive involvement of volunteers makes it possible to appreciably increase the profitability of events organised by the association. The investment for developing the site comes down to the raw materials, while the added value grows considerably. And the operating costs are practically reduced to only the professional troupes. In this way, volunteer work has enabled a development that undoubtedly would not have been possible otherwise.

Finally, volunteer work offers a wonderful communication network for the events in which it is sought. Through print communication media, the volunteers act as ambassadors for the event, which they carry to their circle (business, association...). In their development, the Medieval Festivals have created a network of businesses and partners to which the volunteers sometimes belong, which accentuates this phenomenon.

... and for the volunteers

A collective, unifying project

Volunteer work is the association's affirmed path for development. It finds its strength in a common unifying project. Each person gradually becomes aware of the issues of the territory in which he or she lives, and can provide his or her input to it.

The association's objectives are clearly expressed and each person contributes to it by his or her action: it is a matter of instilling a new dynamism in the region, on the economic, social, tourism, as well as cultural levels. The association is also committed to preserving the environment and the architectural legacy. By joining the association, volunteers know that they are giving a meaning to their action.

Personal accomplishment at the heart of the collective project

"Have dreams and share them". This is undoubtedly the wish of many volunteers and it is also what Andilly Loisirs is attempting to realise. The association must allow each of the volunteers to find fulfilment in their actions. This involves giving them the means to accomplish what they cannot do on a daily basis with their skills alone. By making successful tools or noble materials available, or by entrusting responsibilities to an amateur, albeit a skilled one, the volunteers feel that they are respected.

The exemplary nature of managers and those carrying the project

By definition, a volunteer gives his or her time free of charge. This gift of oneself depends on the confidence one has in those managing the association. Their attitude must therefore be exemplary. Rigour is omnipresent, especially at the financial level, and the supervising volunteers are committed to receiving no contribution, on whatever grounds, for the work provided. Other qualities are much in evidence, such as accessibility. The vertical hierarchy does not make itself much felt, and simplicity is always welcome.

Successful alchemy between volunteers and employees

It is undoubtedly the most difficult challenge for an association undergoing intense development to take up. The events are now borne by numerous volunteers, but also by employees present throughout the year. The collaboration must function, with very different motivations and expectations for different people. Each person in his or her role supplies his or her collaboration to the project. From the stylistic exercise to the tact imposed to simple friendliness, the work between volunteers and employees multiplies the wealth of encounters and sometimes allows one to climb the summits!