- Background:
Buddhafield (website: www.buddhafield.com ) is an English Buddhist collective that is part of the international Buddhist movement, the Triratna Buddhist Community (website: http://thebuddhistcentre.com). Buddhafield emerged out of the coming together of Buddhism and ecological awareness in the 1990s. Buddhafield is inspired by the ideal of living and working more simply and kindly in a community informed by awareness of our interconnections with each other and with nature. We run a programme of camping activities in the South West of England and own two beautiful pieces of land, which we are committed to managing sustainably and which we use for several events each year (not the Festival itself). We are perhaps best known for organising the much-loved Buddhafield Festival , now in its 17th year, and for the Buddhafield Café, which provides vegan food at festivals like the Glastonbury Festival.
- The Festival:
The Buddhafield Festival is held over a period of five days, on a beautiful site in the Blackdown Hills, in Somerset, England. The event brings together around three thousand people for a sharing and celebration of alternative social, cultural, political and spiritual values. The mix of activities around Buddhist, environmental, healing and social change themes together with general festival attractions such as singing, dance, yoga, drumming, live music, comedy, craftwork, chai cafes, saunas, hot tubs and a huge range of activities for children, attracts a wide range of festival goers. The feedback we get is that for many the event is a reminder that a more positive and kind alternative to conventional competitive and environmentally damaging ways of living is possible. In keeping with the Festival's Buddhist ethos the event is a drug and alcohol-free zone.
- Here is a brief youtube clip of the festival:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjusbjWLWq8
- Work:
Needless to say, in order for the Festival to be a life-enhancing and indeed for some a life-transforming experience, much hard work is required. From the day we arrive in an empty field with a small vanguard, our numbers gradually swell until we have around eight hundred volunteers welcoming the two thousand visitors. The set-up crew erect the structures that will act as kitchens and venues. They establish the infrastructure such as plumbing, compost toilets, showers and saunas. They make the site beautiful and safe with flags, bunting, paths, fences and lighting. Then during the Festival we have stewards to welcome and guide festival goers, to manage parking and traffic and to attend to people's well-being. Toilet wizards maintain the compost toilets. A team of recyclers sorts materials so as to minimize landfill. The café crew feed volunteers and festival goers alike.
VAP volunteers can choose from one of four areas of work during the five days of the Festival itself (July 15th - Sunday July 19th): the Dharma Parlour, the Buddhafield cafe, recycling and ‘toilet wizards'. In addition we have an ambitious ‘barefoot journalism' project we'd like to invite the VAP volunteers to take part in - see below for more details. The Dharma Parlour is the area of the Festival where there is a daily programme of Buddhist talks and discussions - the work here will be keeping the area beautiful and welcoming.
As well as these areas of work during the Festival, a full experience of the event will include two days of general work on set-up before the Festival (arriving Wednesday 8th), and four days of take-down, leaving on the morning of Friday July 24th. During these periods the work will be with either crew kitchen or site crew.
In the ‘barefoot journalism' project we will ask those volunteers who want to (and we hope it will be most of them!) , to go out into the festival and find people to interview about specific questions eg "what is Buddhafield?", "what is meditation?" "what is Buddhism", etc and then ‘report back' by speaking live to camera for one or two minutes in their native language – we'd record them on video and that way quickly produce a series of short informal multi-language videos. If people are happy with them we'd post them on YouTube and add them to our multi-language ‘Anybody Anywhere' internet project.
During the Festival the volunteers will have work shifts, but will also have time to enjoy the huge variety of events taking place and facilities available as outlined above. Volunteers are asked to attend daily morning meetings, the exact time depending on what area of work they choose to join. The work is very team-based. The whole enterprise runs on goodwill, awareness of each others' needs, good communication and mutual support. During set-up and take-down there will be organised events around Buddhist themes, attendance at which is completely voluntary. There are generally also alternatives such as spontaneous musical gatherings, often around a fire.
- Food and Accommodation:
Buddhafield will provide food (mainly vegan) and hot drinks are available throughout the day. If possible volunteers should provide their own tents, however if necessary Buddhafield should be able to provide a shared canvas structure (e.g. a geodesic dome) as an on-site communal camping accommodation. However this may be needed for workshops during the day, especially during the Festival itself. Volunteers would need to bring their own sleeping gear such as sleeping bag and sleeping mat.
- Travel to Buddhafield:
The Festival site is in remote countryside, with only two buses per day going near the site. The nearest town is Taunton in Somerset which has good trains to London. Once on site it take a long time to leave and go shopping etc. We are therefore asking all VAP volunteers to arrive in time to travel up to the site together on July 8th on the 17.30 bus from Taunton town centre. We recommend arriving in Taunton by about 4pm to make sure you find the right place before the bus comes!
- Trains:
The nearest station is Taunton. Journeys take about 2 hours from London or Birmingham, 1 hour from Bristol and 30 minutes from Exeter. Book via http://www.thetrainline.com/
- Coaches:
Taunton is about 4 hours from London and 1 hour from Bristol. National Express run regular services to Taunton. See www.nationalexpress.com.
- Local transport:
Once in Taunton there are two buses per day which can drop you within 5 minutes walk of the Festival site. The bus stops are about 15 minutes walk from Taunton station and five minutes from the coach station.
- HOSTING FEE:
Volunteers will be asked to pay a fee of 50 GBP upon arrival. This fee will be used in a fund to support the creation of new workcamps in the UK.
- NB:
Volunteers applying should write a motivation letter explaining their reasons to apply to this specific project.
