Every year, the best underground bands, theatres, and the majority of the NGO scene gather in a small lakeside village in Hungary. Participate in the country’s leading socially conscious small festival as a volunteer!

Partner

Bánkitó is Hungary’s biggest independent, socially conscious, cultural, and community festival with a wide range of programmes throughout its three days (13-15 July) in the summer from music through theatre to contemporary art. The festival is located in the countryside and hosts 8000 visitors each year. It offers concerts, theatre performances, exhibitions, civil initiatives, workshops, and round-table discussions about social justice issues, human rights, and the experiences and cultures of minorities. It takes place at Bánkitó, a small Hungarian village 60kms away from Budapest.
The programme of the festival is always organized around a common theme. In 2023, the topic will be Adaptations. It’s not cool to organise a festival in 2023 in the same way as before. In a world where people have less and less money, we don’t want to be fancy. DO NOT expect unnecessary ostentation, wasted energy, or musicians flying in from thousands of miles away. DO expect partying and dancing, a range of cool local and foreign music, theatre, a lot of surprises, and a shared reflection on the changes around us that affect us all.

Work

We are looking for volunteers to help run the festival through the preparational work of the festival during 10/07/23 – 14/07/23. The volunteering work will consist of construction work, drilling/heavy objects, etc. Work equipment will be provided. After the preparation work, you are free to enjoy the festival and take part in all events. 

We are also looking for volunteers that will help us with creating social media content. Your main focus will be on taking photos at the festival. The start is the same as the preparation team from 10/07/23 till the end of the festival- 16/07/23. If you already have your equipment such as a camera or mobile phone with a quality camera it is a preferred option, if not please contact us and we will discuss it individually.

The earliest departure is 16th July anytime.

Accommodation and food

You will live in tents during the festival and you are asked to bring your own tent. We provide 3 meals/day for you (hot meals for lunch and dinner). A vegetarian option is available. We provide all equipment needed to fulfill your tasks.

Location and leisure

Bánk is a tiny village in Nógrád County with its not-so-tiny Lake Bánk in the middle. It has everything a tiny village built around a lake could need: a small store, a tobacco shop, a pizza place, a pub, some hotels, motels, and a lakeshore eatery. Plus the extremely friendly locals. Bánkitó Festival has been in town for 12 years, mostly around the Lakeshore and the Camp, though throughout the years, we ventured out to settle around the Reeds and the Meadow. Besides the lake, the small wooden cabins and the venues hiding around small clearings throughout the enclosing forest make Bánkitó the festival it is.

About the Festival

• Music – Progressive, contemporary, constantly renewing. These are the words we could use to describe the philosophy behind Bánkitó’s yearly music lineup. The formula remains unchanged but with the addition of bands, the festival’s programme is better than ever. Our goal is to bring together neighboring artists and showcase the newest and most exciting bands of the Hungarian music scene.
• Civil society and culture – The civil/cultural programmes at Bánkitó always poke at important, actual, and sometimes risky topics. Like in the past years, we will work towards understanding issues of the world and society together with activists from NGOs, musicians, actors, and artists.
• Theatre – As an independent theatre showcase festival, Bánkitó wants to present contemporary Hungarian theatre pieces that tell us something about ourselves, the people around us, and our society as a whole. Those pieces that everyone has to see, whose effects will linger on with the audience long after their end. Last year, the theatre tent had great success running full house throughout the festival.
• Art – A contemporary art exhibition on 80,000 square meters of land. It’s hard to create a space where artists, their art, the message, and the audience exist together in the same place, at the same time, with thousands of people. Bánkitó is such a space. Hungary’s most exciting contemporary artists will transform the shores of Lake Bánk into an art exhibition once again.
• Nonprofit Festival – Bánkitó is not just entertainment. We look at our festival as a social enterprise that is capable of bringing attention to unduly neglected topics and raising awareness in the public’s consciousness. We provide appearances to several NGOs so that thousands of people can get to know causes to stand behind as conscious citizens.

All this around the picturesque Lake Bánk, a one-hour car ride or half-day bike trip away from Budapest.

Travel

You need to travel by train from Budapest to Vác, and from Vác by bus to Rétság where the host can pick you up. Trains depart every hour from Budapest Nyugati station. We ask you to catch the train at 10.00 am at Nyugati Station together so the team can arrive around 12 pm at the festival location. It takes around 1 hour from the airport to the train station by bus and metro, plus 1,5 hours to Rétság.

Requirements

You should be fit enough for physically demanding work. No special documentation is necessary. No COVID-19 vaccine requirements. No language requirements, but we require a way to communicate with the organizers in Hungarian or English. Please bring clothes that you won’t regret getting dirty during construction, your sleeping bag, and personal medicine.

Please send us a motivation letter focusing on why you would choose to work on the festival, and what kind of related skills or previous experiences you have had in the chosen field. You do not need any special skills to volunteer at the festival.

Additional comments

Please book refundable plane tickets in case the work camp needs to be canceled.