The Marsinne Folk Festival is organized by the non-profit organisation «Musiques et Traditions» since 1992. This three-day long Folk Festival features balls, concerts, dancing workshops, a free stage, sessions, street and puppet theatre, as well as a market for instrument makers and craftsmen.
Whether you are an experienced dancer, an enthusiastic music lover or a one-day passer-by, this is the place to be if you want to indulge in traditional music in a peaceful and easily accessible setting. Expect to find a friendly and family-oriented festival with a unique atmosphere and set in a spectacular location. When it is not on one of the three stages, musicians play spontaneously together, in the middle of the public or in the craft market.
The lovely surroundings of the Marsinne castle-farm offer a unique atmosphere to the festival. We invite you to discover and enjoy what the oldest festival of traditional music Wallonia has to offer! More information (FR) on www.folkfestivalmarsinne.be
WORK:
Volunteers will help on several aspects of the festival logistics, such as meals preparation for the entire team of the festival, assembling and dismantling of tents and structures, building and putting up the decorations, stage managing, transport and unloading of material, installation of the market area, waste management,... Volunteers will work with all people working on the festival (technicians, stage managers, facilitators, organizers, cooks...).
→ Hard physical work will be asked to volunteers so it is important to take this into account. Volunteers will also have lighter tasks like meal preparation, waste management, decorations,... The festival will take place from September 6th to September 8th 2020.
FOOD:
Before and after the festival, meals will be taken with the diverse teams of the festival. Sandwiches will be prepared for lunch and a warm meal for dinner. During the festival, volunteers will receive meal tickets to get
warm meals from the caterer of the site.
LOCATION:
The castle-farm of Marsinne, built in the XII century, is located in the old village of Couthuin (Commune of Héron), in the Province of Liège in Wallonia in Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium. The site of the festival is about 10km away from the city of Huy and 40km away
from the city of Liège. The caste-farm hosts also a brewery that produce a craft beer: the «Léopold 7».
SPECIFIC INFORMATION:
• This workcamp requires hard physical efforts at some moments and an active participation and involvement of volunteers during the
workcamp, due to the deadlines set for the good progress of the festival. Volunteers are asked to prove a strong interest for the thematic of the festival. There will be 3 free days during the workcamp: two days during and one day after the festival.
• It is also important to take into account the fact that the organisation of a festival might be subject to last minutes
changes or unforeseen events (for example: the truck to unload doesn’t show up at the predicted time, a technical issue will delay the assembly of a stage,etc). We are therefore expecting volunteers to be flexible and understanding in this kind of situation.
• Please bring good working shoes, gloves, clothes that can get dirty and a raincoat in case of rainy weather (+ sleeping bag & mattress). If you have a music instrument or juggling material, feel free to bring it! and your dancing outfit!
• One or two evening will be organize to initiate volunteers to folk dances.
• We aim to encourage the participation of refugees living in Belgium on this workcamp
LANGUAGE:
The language of the workcamp is English. Basics of French are useful but not necessary.
ACCES:
The meeting point is at the Andenne train station on 4 September at about 4 pm.
→ The two well-connected cities near Heron are Namur and Liège, where there are bus connections to these cities. The nearest train station to the Festival is Andenne. Train timetables on:
https://www.belgiantrain.be/fr
→ By plane: the nearest international airports are Brussels (Zaventem) or Brussels-Charleroi (note that the latter is in the city of Charleroi). Coming from Brussels-Charleroi airport, it takes about 1h45 to reach Andenne station. It is the same time from Zaventem airport.
→ Use google maps.
We encourage all our volunteers to prefer “eco friendly transportation” to come on their volunteering project. So think twice and come by bike or hitchhike until your project! Do not hesitate to have look on bus companies, car sharing companies or trains. Train timetables on http://www.belgianrail.be/en/Default.aspx
Sustainable development goals? Here you work for sustainable cities and communities (11)! Support to the local population for the organisation of a cultural event in a rural area in Belgium.
SUMMARY OF THE WORKCAMP:
Join the workcamp at the Folk Festival of Marsinne and discover the inside of this oldest festival of traditional music of Wallonia, in the country-side of Belgium ! Volunteers will help on several aspects of the festival logistics at all the stages of the festival organisation