Last December, VolunteerLocal attended IMFCON, or the International Music Festival Conference. We learned some amazing tips for strategizing and marketing your festival (the weather in San Diego didn’t hurt, either). One of the biggest things we took away is that people don’t go to music festivals just to hear Justin Bieber or Nicki Minaj – they go for the experience.

Fahntoosh Enterprises is working to provide just that. Austin-based and female-owned, the company is made up of event specialists who strive to make the music scene accessible and enjoyable for all attendees, with a focus on offering services to patrons with disabilities.

Cari Wieland, President and CEO of Fahntoosh Enterprises, started out as a team of one. Wieland began working with C3 Presents, managing various festivals’ Access Programs. As the number of festivals increased, so did Wieland’s team. She now works with a diverse and experienced group of festival lovers, passionate about making music experiences accessible for all.

Represented mainly at large, outdoor multi-day music festivals, Fahntoosh Enterprises provides  patrons with reserved viewing platforms, an Access Center, a dedicated Access email to answer questions before, during, and after the event, American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation, assistive listening devices, and programs/information in large print and braille.

“VolunteerLocal has allowed us to contact people we would have never reached previously.” – Cari Wieland, President and CEO of Fahntoosh Enterprises

These needs can often be overlooked, but are necessary to ensure that events provide all festival-goers the experience of a lifetime. One of Wieland’s favorite festivals is Bonnaroo, where Fahntoosh Enterprises provides the RFID scan staff management.

Before using VolunteerLocal, Wieland and her team would create separate scheduling spreadsheets in Excel or Google Docs for each event, and recruit through social media, neither of which were very effective. “VolunteerLocal is great because the volunteers can pick their own shifts,” says Wieland. “The ability to share the link with others is great, too. We love being able to send out emails to all of the volunteers.”

Here at VolunteerLocal, we think everyone deserves rockstar treatment. Learn how you can help enhance the experience for all festival-goers here.

Photos courtesy of Fahntoosh Enterprises