Powered by Volunteers: Sustaining Nightlife's Backbone

Volunteers keep nightlife culture alive — running the door, staffing the bar, organizing the programme, holding the community together. But as social structures shift and free time becomes scarcer, the question of how to sustain and grow volunteer engagement is more urgent than ever. This session brings together practitioners from across Europe to share what's working, and to develop concrete strategies together.

The session opens with short best-practice inputs from institutions that have found real success in building and retaining volunteer structures. From there, we move into a World Café format: participants rotate through four thematic tables, each tackling a specific challenge in small, focused groups.

Moderation: Julia Gause (Klubnetz e.V., Fuchsbau Festival, Höme Ticketing)

Inputs:

• Deutsche Stiftung für Engagement und Ehrenamt (requested)
• Jolly (Bandcommunity Leipzig e. V.)
• Nastya Syradoieva (u2203, Kyjiv, UE)
• Tallinn Music Week (requested)

 Table topics of the World Café:

1. Motivation & Growth: Why People Volunteer — and How to Attract More
2. Passing It On: Knowledge Transfer in Volunteer Communities
3. Paid vs. Unpaid: Navigating Necessity, Fun, and Boundaries

In co-operation with the City of Hannover.