Volunteer!

Help make Something Else amazing!

Sign up to Volunteer!

Something Else is the party you bring. We have no paid staff. It's a labor of love for everyone who participates. The backbone of the event is our amazing volunteers and all the funny dinos who bring cool stuff to do together. 

Some lead roles are unfilled, and we would love to support enthusiastic participants who want to take this on—as a sixth-year event, we can definitely help you hit the ground running as a lead! Most teams with leads also need volunteers to do their magic.

Volunteer tickets cost less or nothing. Generally, a shift is about 4 hours of your time and discounts your ticket by 1/3.

Don't know what you want to do? Sign up anyway! We'll find something useful for you to do.

Questions? Email us!

Volunteer Tickets

Volunteer Roles

Setup

Leads: Chuk & Gene

• Setup Team

Setup volunteers commit to being onsite a day early (for 2022 this means Wednesday afternoon) to assist event and art teams in setting up their stuff. Familiarity with basic tools is a plus, as is having your own. Unload stuff from trucks, put them where leads determine. Set up before Gate opens: community outdoor kitchen, sound stages, teahouse/cozy/safe space, dome.

• Sign Boss

Events need signs! Can you make them? We can provide sign materials, some paint, and some markers. Signs need to be simple, legible, and quick turnaround.

Dome

Lead: Renee

• Squish Commander

The Dome is a soft, fluffy quasi-indoor chill space with no set programming. We have an 18’ covered PVC dome and enough 2’ foam tiles to cover the floor. Dome lead coordinates squish/fluff temporary donations and makes sure everything gets back to their donor. Setup and Strike volunteers help with those aspects of the dome, but volunteers to contribute squishy stuff are always welcome. 

Shuttle

Leads: Chuk & Gene

• Shuttle Driver

The lake is ~15m walk up a hot, exposed hill. Getting a ride is nice! Shuttle drivers need to be sober enough to drive a pickup truck (we have a rented one, but you're welcome to add your own) and safely transport folks and equipment up and down the hill. If you're a responsible driver on a dirt road and you like making new friends, this is the job for you. The truck manager will show you how to drive the truck, put it in gear, how to put on the parking brake, and where the key will live. 

Strike

Leads: Chuk & Gene

• Strike Team

The strike team commits to being onsite until all campers and infrastructure are gone (this means staying until Monday afternoon or later, as you can). Familiarity with basic tools is a plus, as is having your own.

Raptors (ranger team)

Lead: John

• Raptor

Who’s in charge here? A Raptor is the responsible one for a shift: sober, carrying a radio, floating around and making sure things are going ok for everyone. You’ll work with a lead to understand what’s worth your attention and how to help people deal with problems as they come up and when to radio for backup.

Gate

Lead: Manda

• Gate Crew

Greet people when they arrive, process their paperwork (ticket? vaxx? waiver?), direct them to drop off their stuff and park! 

Sound & Lighting

Lead: Truckstop

We will have two amplified sound stages this year at Something Else 2022 - One daytime stage at Mud Beach (Tar Pit Stage) and one night stage at Loggers (Petrified Forest). Check below for descriptions of specific roles with the Sound/Lighting Team!

• Setup

We’ll be setting up on the two stages on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning. Moving speakers & lights into place, plugging things in, and testing them. No technical knowledge needed. 

• Stage Manager

Show up 30 minutes before the music begins at the stage for the day. You’ll start up the generator and add fuel if needed. The rest of your shift will be ensuring the stage is functional and calling for assistance on the provided stage radio if needed. No technical knowledge needed.

• Lighting Collector Angel

Sometime before noon, you’ll be collecting our battery powered lights between Great Oak and Loggers and bringing them to the Central Camp Kitchen and placing them in a case for charging. We’ll have a cart for making this task easier! Quick shift but super important…. You’ll thank yourself later at night when the lights are on!

• Lighting Deployer Angel

At sunset, you’ll put the fully charged lights at the Central Camp Kitchen into a cart and place them beneath trees between Great Oak and Loggers. Then you’ll return the cart to Central Camp Kitchen. Quick shift but super important!

• Strike

We’ll be breaking down both stages on Monday mid-day. It’s a nice easy breakdown with tasks such as unplugging things, wrapping cables, and putting speakers/stuff into a vehicle. 

Kitchen

Lead: Monster Chef

Kitchen crews help us make meals! Something Else is a food party because dinos like to EAT; these dinos eat Brunch and Dinner.

• Meal Lead

Propose a community meal you want to make (some budget provided), work with the Kitchen Lead to plan it and purchase ingredients, cook with help of Cooking Crew and serve. You will need to sign up as a volunteer in order to take on this role.

• Cooking Crew

Support Meal Lead by prepping, cooking, and serving a tasty meal. You can even rally a group of friends to own the whole meal and choose one of you to be the Meal Lead!

• Cleanup Crew

Support meal makers by keeping the kitchen tidy. Make sure we clean up after meals, wash our dishes, and get the kitchen ready for the next crew. Healthy dinos are happy dinos.

• Snack Boss

Repackage meal leftovers, oversee cleanup crew, put out donated snacks.

• Community Camp Kitchen Manager

Because dinos live in fire-prone California forest, all personal cooking is done in the paved, fire-safe Community Camp Kitchen. This all-event, low-touch role supports community camp kitchen to be regularly usable and un-fucked by greeting users and reminding them to turn off propane and process their dishes.

Bar

Lead: Dave LeB

• Barkeep

Make sure the Lake bar has Bar Stuff during the day and help with important Bar tasks, like slicing fruits, serving drinks, replenishing ice, and sorting bar waste (boxes, bottles, crushing cans, etc). Check in a couple times each shift.

Tea Lounge

Lead: Michael Whelpley & Rochelle

• Tea Team

People really like tea and tea house vibes. Tea team will help set up infrastructure and refill kettles as necessary.

Leave No Trace

Lead: Sophie

Setup systems so people can reliably handle their trash, compost, recycling, etc. Move around some bags and sort some recycling as needed.

• Intermittent Trash Fairy

Sort daily recycling stream from the beach, un-fuck trash area, and sweep for central kitchen area moop: 1 hour Fri/Sat/Sun

• LNT Striker

Stays to Monday early evening with LNT Lead to make sure we truly leave no trace.

• Lost & Found Coordinator

The dinos need you! Make a Lost & Found area, tell people about it, make signs, take everything in it home at the end, take photos, share them, help people pick up their stuff. You should live in Oakland or San Francisco. People will thank you!

Volunteer Coordination

Lead: Will Ho & Renee

Something Else runs on volunteers! The Volunteer coordination team helps identify what needs help and who is available to provide it.

• Pre-event Volunteer Coordinator

This is a high-touch pre-event role. People will say they’re interested in a team, then you work with the team lead to match them to a shift.

• During-event Volunteer Coordinator

Work with pre-event volunteer coordination team to clarify any role or team need ambiguities. Periodically checks in with leads on attendance and resourcing needs. Help confused volunteers find something to do. It happens.

Art Support

Leads: Gene & Renee

• Placement

​​This is a high-touch pre-event role, handling all people who want to bring arts. Handles placement and resource allocation. Places camps. Helpful for someone who knows the property.

• Event Management

Point person(s) for anyone wanting to host an activity. Scheduling and logistics. Coordinating with Placement and Setup.

Photographer

Take a mix of close-up happy-people-Doing-A-Thing shots and farther-away look-at-all-this-joy scenic/crowd shots and anything relevant in between. Target: 50% images of identifiable people, 30% art, and 20% scene/landscape/crowd.


Our goals with these photos are:

Communications

Lead: Renee

Write emails and social posts, mostly.