{"id":107417,"date":"2021-07-22T22:39:30","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T02:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=107417"},"modified":"2021-07-22T22:39:30","modified_gmt":"2021-07-23T02:39:30","slug":"musikfest-in-need-of-community-volunteers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=107417","title":{"rendered":"MUSIKFEST IN NEED OF COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo Credit: Craig Roberts<\/em><\/p>\n

The nation\u2019s largest free music festival, now in its 38th year, needs community supports<\/h3>\n

BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 Since 1984,\u00a0Musikfest<\/a>\u00a0has attracted millions of patrons to enjoy live music, try new foods and spend time with friends and family in the Lehigh Valley. The festival, organized by the nonprofit\u00a0ArtsQuest<\/a>, would not be possible without thousands of dedicated volunteers. This year more than ever, volunteers are going to be an integral part of the \u2018fest and its functioning, and ArtsQuest is asking community members to volunteer their time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an unprecedented year for Musikfest, as we\u2019ve never had to put together the festival in such a short amount of time,\u201d ArtsQuest Volunteer and Internship Programs Manager Cory Stevens said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be tough, but we can pull this off if the community comes together once again to make it happen. We can do it the way we\u2019ve always accomplished the impossible\u2014together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experiencing Musikfest as a volunteer allows for a different perspective on the festival and what it means to the community. Staci Scheetz\u2019s parents brought her to her first Musikfest when she was only a few weeks old. She has been coming ever since, volunteering since age 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite part about volunteering is the environment you get to volunteer in,\u201d Sheetz said. \u201cYou get to meet new people every day and everyone always has such an amazing time!\u201d<\/p>\n

Volunteers come back year after year because they truly enjoy getting to serve their community through Musikfest. There is a special group of a dozen volunteers who have been volunteering since the initial festival in 1984. Mary Lou Straka is one of those dedicated individuals, who also volunteers with ArtsQuest year-round.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1984, Musikfest began with about 500 volunteers staffing the various platzes\u201d Straka said. \u201cWith the continued growth of Musikfest, the need for volunteers to support the various aspects of the festival has also increased.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Musikfest volunteer application can be found on\u00a0artsquest.org\/volunteer<\/a>. Official t-shirts and food vouchers are provided to volunteers who work the \u2018fest. Volunteers are asked for a minimum of three shifts throughout the festival or two weekend shifts.<\/p>\n

About ArtQuest<\/strong><\/p>\n

ArtsQuest\u2019s mission is to provide access to exceptional artistic, cultural and educational experiences using arts and culture as key elements of economic development for our urban communities. ArtsQuest\u2122 supports this mission via the presentation of performing and visual arts, film, arts education classes and outreach, youth programming and cultural events.<\/p>\n

Through festivals such as its flagship event,\u00a0Musikfest<\/a>; the\u00a0Banana Factory Arts Center<\/a>; and the ArtsQuest Center at\u00a0SteelStacks<\/a>\u00a0arts and cultural campus, ArtsQuest\u2019s programming reaches more than 1.9 million people annually. The organization\u2019s programs and events, approximately 50 percent of which are free to attend, have a combined economic impact of more than $136 million annually in the region. ArtsQuest is a proud member of NIVA, the\u00a0National Independent Venue Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nNicole Harrell
\nArtsQuest Director of Communications
\nhttp:\/\/www.artsquest.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo Credit: Craig Roberts The nation\u2019s largest free music festival, now in its 38th year, needs community supports BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 Since 1984,\u00a0Musikfest\u00a0has attracted millions of patrons to enjoy live … Continue reading MUSIKFEST IN NEED OF COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107418,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5717,69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bethlehem","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/musikfest-volunteers.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107417"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=107417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/107418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=107417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=107417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=107417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}