Volunteering at The Forest
You can’t currently volunteer in the café, because we’re temporarily closed. But you can volunteer for the Save the Forest Campaign. And you should! Because we all want to reopen as soon as possible. Read on here to find out more.
We’ve left the old volunteer page here so you know what you could have been able to do if we were open right now!
A nuclear reactor is powered by plutonium. The Forest is powered by volunteers.
A few ways to get involved:
Just drop by the café and ask for a volunteer application form! We will check it and contact you via email in a few days with more info and send you our volunteer guide.
Write to volunteer@theforest.org.uk.
Post your proposal on our bulletin board.
Host your own event or workshop at The Forest.
There are loads of things you could get involved with. The most popular is working in the café itself, but there are a zillion other aspects to the Forest:
Art/Crafts If you are artistically inclined and have an idea to make the Forest more beautiful, or even just fix furniture or repaint walls, write to our Front of House coordinator at foh@theforest.org.uk.
Sound If you already have experience as a sound engineer or light technician, or even if you just want to learn the basics, write to our Sound Team coordinator at sound@theforest.org.uk.
Workshops Are you good at anything from watercolours and aikido to Estonian and DIY fashion? Share your skills with everyone and organize a workshop! Submit your idea to workshops@theforest.org.uk.
Or you could always help out with our libraries, organize a fundraiser or a film festival, make music and put it out on Forest records, give us legal advice or anything else! Get involved, take initiative.
International volunteering: European Voluntary Service
The Forest is part of the European Voluntary Service. This allows people from all over Europe to be paid and housed to work with voluntary projects (i.e. us!). This is an ultra great way to come to Edinburgh, and be involved in Forest! Send your CV and motivation letter to our EVS coordinator at forestevs@gmail.com and tell us why you want to volunteer at the Forest. Please bear in mind that we select our next European Volunteers a long time in advance and that we receive a lot of applications – we will only contact you if you get shortlisted. Be creative!
We have already hosted a great number of volunteers from all over Europe. They are involved in every aspect of the Forest, but they especially help out in our vegetarian café three times per week and are in charge of their own personal project. You could be involved with:
- Cultural events and promotion
- Community workshops
- Artist support (sound and lighting)
- Volunteer coordination
- Front of house
- Web art and design
or even come up with your own project!
Read through the EU guide to get a clearer idea on how to proceed.