Darbar is looking to recruit several ambassadors to promote the Darbar Festival.

We are also on the look out for committed volunteers to help with the organisation’s media and educational activities.

The Festival, which takes place at a number of venues across England, is the largest annual gathering of Indian classical musicians in Europe.

Songlines world music magazine says the Festival is the “UK’s most important celebration of South Asian classical music.”

BBC Radio 3 says the Darbar Festival is “a place where everyone expects and gets the highest quality performances of Indian classical music.”

Ken Hunt, veteran arts journalist writing in Roots in June 2009 said: “If Britain has ever witnessed a more ambitious assemblage of South Asian music, it has bypassed my historian mind and antennae.”

Darbar is looking to set up a team of voluntary Darbar ambassdors to help enhance the Festival and help promote it to new audiences. We are asking ambassadors to commit several hours a month to help develop Britain’s “premier festival of Indian classical music.” The exact role of each ambassador will vary depending on your skills, the areas that they would like to be involved and the needs of the organisation. Get in touch if you want to find out more.

The work of the ambassadors could involve some or all of the following:

• Spread the word about the Darbar Festival through: your social media sites, by e-mail or just chatting to your friends about how much you like us!

• Together with the Darbar team, help identify new outlets and sales possibilities for ticket sales

• Help sell tickets amongst your friends or other groups in your area

• Help us distribute our flyers and posters in your area

• Help Darbar to build up a targeted mailing list

• Come up with new ideas to develop audiences and ways to enhance the Darbar Festival

• Help recruit new ambassadors from amongst your networks

To be an ambassador you need to be:

• Passionate about Indian classical music

• Knowledgeable or with potential to become knowledgeable about the Darbar Festival

• Supportive of Darbar and our values

• Enthusiastic and able to talk to others about the the Darbar Festival

• Able to commit several hours a month

• Well networked in work or social life

• Good communication skills - good listeners and talkers!

The work of the Darbar volunteers could involve:

• Helping maintain the new Darbar website

• Help ensure that the Darbar Festival runs smoothly by undertaking specific tasks like artist hospitality, answering audience queries etc.

• Helping out in producing media content (web, television, podcasts and so on) at the Darbar Festival

• Helping out in aspects of Darbar’s educational work with UK based artists or the workshops/classes in the East Midlands

The rewards for both ambassadors and volunteers include:

• Developing skills in event management, marketing and web-content management

• Making new friends with people who are passionate about south Asian classical arts

• Spending time with some of the artists at the Darbar Festival

• The chance to be part of Britain’s cultural life and being a key player in developing a Festival that is reshaping Britain’s South Asian arts scene

• A free Darbar Arts Culture Heritage Book about Indian classical music in Britain: “...excellent and beautifully reproduced photographs that accompany the text, catching musicians in the full flight of artistic creation” Songlines review, July 2009

• Your contribution will be acknowledged in Darbar’s marketing literature

What you waiting for? Contact us and become part of Darbar:

If you are interested in either being an ambassador a volunteer email us at hello@darbar.org with the following:

1. Which area you might be interested in

2. An up-to-date CV

3. Full contact details (email and telephone numbers)

We will do our best to contact you within a week to either arrange a face-to-face meeting or a telephone chat to move things forward.