Volunteer at the Reno Jazz Festival + Enjoy 2 Days of Extraordinary Jazz for Free!

Support + enjoy great jazz during the 2024 Reno Jazz Festival on Friday, April 26 & Saturday, April 27. Be a part of transforming the University campus this April into a hub for jazz, music education, and innovation by volunteering with the Reno Jazz Festival — one of the biggest jazz events of its kind in the US.

All volunteers receive a Festival T-shirt, access to all daytime activities during the Festival, snacks, and drinks. Lunch is provided to volunteers who work two consecutive shifts.

We need assistance with the following roles: Door Monitor, Timer / Announcer, and Stage Guide. Role descriptions are at the bottom of this section.

Sign-ups are for shift times; specific roles will be assigned when volunteers arrive for their shifts.

Volunteers will check-in for their shifts at the Joe Crowley Student Union by the Nevada Lounge, First Floor.

The Reno Jazz Festival is one of the biggest jazz events in the world. Since 1962, the Festival has hosted jazz students, instructors, performers and fans to play, listen and learn. The three-day Festival provides a non-competitive forum for students to perform for artist educators and peers, and to learn from jazz masters in clinics, workshops, and concerts. With more than 100 school groups, upwards of 3,000 participants, and an all-star cast of clinicians, performers, and Artist Educators, we continue to strive to ensure that every guest leaves with greater knowledge, appreciation, and love of music and the world of jazz. It is truly the students that make the Festival a vibrant epicenter of jazz each April.

QUESTIONS? Email us at rjfvolunteer@unr.edu.

Volunteer Role Descriptions

Door Monitor

Door Monitors check Festival wristbands to verify that attendees have the proper credentials needed to enter the performance/venue, and ensure attendees follow basic venue rules (for example, food or drink may not be allowed).

Timer / Announcer

Timer / Announcers work with Festival participants (bands, combos, choirs, and directors) and Artist Educators to keep performance / feedback sessions on schedule. Timers collect each group’s set sheet and announcer forms, give the set sheets to the Artist Educators and introduce each group and their performance selection (if the group's director does not wish to).

Stage Guide

Each group (bands, combos, and choirs) will warm up in one room, and perform and receive feedback from an Artist Educator in another room. Stage Guides lead groups from their warm-up room to their performance / feedback room. They ensure the event runs on time by helping groups find their way through the venue.