Volunteers
we especially need

The business side of Lewisville Lake Symphony is operated by the Lewisville Lake Symphony Guild, an all volunteer organization.  It's the Guild that staffs the box office, raises money, and does all the big and small jobs that make a season successful.  And its volunteers have a good time in the process.

Here are some of the specific jobs where we urgently need  volunteers to step in and help:

• Box Office Crew

• Email list maintainer

• Graphic Artist (Advertisements)

• Graphic Artist (Signage)

• House crew

• House Manager

• Municipal grant writer

• Press communications

   

  Volunteer day jobs and Symphony activities

Box Office Crew

The Box Office Manager needs volunteers with people-skills to handle ticket sales and staff other desks specific to a particular concert. These may include the 'Will Call' desk, subscription ticket sales, tickets to
fundraising events, a CD raffle that generates email addresses. Given thecontingencies of a concert, Box Office crew may be asked to help with 'house' jobs like taking tickets at the door.

The Box Office volunteers are asked to show about an hour before a concert.

Activity starts slowly and turns into a scramble about 20 minutes before the concert begins. The Crew closes down the box office as the doors close and can take their seats before the house announcements are complete and the concert begins.

For more information contact Lyn Cleghorn 817.490.0720 or via the CONTACT US page on this site

Email list Maintainer

The Symphony email list sits on a secure computer operated by a company specializing in email distribution.  Access to the list is via the web with passwords.   This makes it easy to maintain from any home with an internet connection.   

The Symphony needs a volunteer to add the names and addresses of people who want to be on the list and correct the addresses when people change email services.

Most names come in on slips filled out at an event.  Some come as emails sent via the Symphony website.

The computer looks at the likelihood of duplication reducing the irritation of entering all the data only to find the person is already on the list.

The volunteer should be comfortable using the web but does not have to be an expert.  The work can be done by somebody active or less mobile than they would like. 

Most of the work comes in bursts after each of our nine concerts between September and April. Usually, each concert generates about two to three hours of work.

Based on past experience, training takes about 20 minutes.

Symphony marketing is available to help with most questions.  The website tech support actually answers their phones and email promptly and are US based.

For more information contact Ian Cleghorn 817.490.0720 or via the CONTACT US page on this site

House Crew

We need volunteers to work the auditorium.  You might be asked to do any of the following:

Take tickets

Give out programs

Operate a counter to tally the audience entering the auditorium

Direct reserved seating patrons to their seating area

Tactfully steer non reserved patrons away from the reserved area

For wheelchair patrons, point out most convenient locations

For more information contact Lyn Cleghorn 817.490.0720 or via the CONTACT US page on this site

House Manager

The Symphony has four Dallas Morning News Symphony concerts per season.   Concerts are approximately 1 ½ hours in length.  All concerts start at 7:30pm ending approximately at 9:00p.m.

The House Manager looks after seating and access to the auditorium

(The orchestra has a stage manager who sets up the stage and reports to the Conductor.  The Box Office Manager is independently responsible for tickets and cash.  The Logistics Manager brings the stuff needed to set up the lobby – box office tables and chairs, posters and easels, etc.)

The International Series concerts are managed by a different house manager and crew

Responsibilities:

The House Manager is in charge of making sure that the Symphony has enough workers for each concert, and making sure auditorium operations run smoothly 

Step by step directions:

Prior to concert

• One week before the concert e-mail the volunteer list to see who can work the concert.   Needed are:                

  • 2 ticket takers

  • 2 program attendants

  • 2 clickers to monitor how many people are at the concert.   1 person needs to be at each entry door.

  • 2 volunteers to help seat reserved ticket holders.

  The volunteers are sometimes supplemented by Honor Students in need of community service time.

• Advise the Logistics Manager how many lobby tables and chairs are needed by the Box Office Manager and other functions.  The numbers fluctuate for each concert.  Special event ticket sales, CD raffle etc.)  The info comes together at the Guild meeting prior to the concert.

At the concert

• Arrive at the venue one hour before the concert.

• As they arrive, volunteers should be advised of their job for the night.

• Check with the Box Office Manager to determine if anything needs coordinated (For example, a group might be expected and want to sit together.  Some VIPs might be expected and seats kept aside for them) 

• Authorize opening the doors to the auditorium about 25 minutes prior to performance having determined everybody and everything is in place

• Once the doors are open, stroll around the lobby and auditorium to watch that all is running smoothly.  (It always does)

• After concert check pews, along with other volunteers, to make sure all programs, waste paper are picked up.

Time commitment: 

Prior to each concert:

Approximately one hour e-mailing for volunteers to work the concert. 

At each concert:

One hour prior to concert and about half hour afterwards.

Total hours for all four concerts:  12 hours approximately

For more information contact Lyn Cleghorn 817.490.0720 or via the CONTACT US page on this site

Municipal Grant Writer

The Symphony gets a portion of its budget from grants made by towns and cities in our area. Each local government has a proscribed process for grant applications and expects us to follow a precise format and calendar.

We need a volunteer to write and manage municipal grant applications.

Responsibilities include:

• Ascertaining and following the grant calendar for each local government

• Obtaining the necessary forms and identifying the person in the City Manager’s office who handles the applications.

• Submitting the requests after review by the Symphony Grants Committee.

• In the case of the City of Lewisville, working with the Greater Lewisville Arts Council, the organization responsible for checking the correctness of city grants and making recommendations on their size. The Symphony Guild delegates several of its members to represent the Symphony at GLAC meetings and these people are a knowledge resource for the Grant Writer

• Maintaining copies of material, such as programs, ads, press releases, brochures etc. that the cities may nee as attachments. (The Symphony has a lot of this stuff filed and available electronically.)

The Writer is normally the designated Symphony spokesperson at public council meetings where grants are discussed. If the writer is uncomfortable with public presentations, the Symphony can dispatch one of a number of voluble volunteers who have made a lot of such presentations in their business careers.

The timing of the work is determined by each city’s schedule. Typically, preparatory work starts around February and the applications need to be in around May. The municipal grants require roughly 20 to 40 hours per year spread over time and depending on how much of earlier applications can be recycled.

The Municipal Grant Writer sits on the Symphony’s Grant Committee and pools experience with the Writers and Researchers who focus on Corporate and Foundation grants.

For more information contact Lyn Cleghorn 817.490.0720 or via the CONTACT US page on this site

Press communications

The Marketing team needs a volunteer with experience in writing press releases and who understands the needs of editors and reporters.

The responsibilities include:

• Writing releases designed to appeal to the editors of local publications.

• Using a 'feature story' style for most releases rather than a simple recitation of the facts.

• Ensuring the releases include both the immediate story and the subtext messages of Symphony reputation, performance quality etc.

• Maintaining a current press contact list.

• Building good relations with the press contacts.

Most of the information for releases is accumulated on this website well ahead of release deadlines so not much research is required. A lot of the work involves adapting and tightening existing material

The Symphony has a reasonably good picture library to illustrate stories.

For more information contact Ian Cleghorn 817.490.0720 or via the CONTACT US page on this site