Ideal time commitment: approx. 10-15 hours per month, flexible, increasing slightly closer to the event
Responsible to: Head of Events
Bi Pride UK’s mission is to create spaces where people who experience attraction beyond gender can be freely visible and celebrate themselves and their identities. It’s not enough to be ‘welcome’ at Pride. We make up a very large proportion of the queer community – the 2021 Census actually shows we’re half of the community – and we deserve to be visible and celebrated in our own right.
There are many ways to make this happen, and we work in many ways to bring this change about:
- Outreach work with other Prides, LGBTQ+ organisations and bi organisations – our consultation work with local Prides, the UK Pride Organisers Network and local and national LGBTQ+ organisations works in a tailored way to make sure that bi-inclusion is a top priority and is being done well
- Organising a high-profile annual Bi Pride event – from September 2019, Bi Pride UK made history with the largest ever gathering of bi people recorded. A performance stage, a panel stage, stall village, street food, and over 1,300 attendees. After going virtual with the BiFi Festival for 2020 due to Covid-19 and running a virtual Pride event in 2021, we came back in person in 2022 with a hybrid event, and have been running the event in this format ever since
- Building a strong online and virtual community – just as important as the rest of our work is making sure that people hear about it! People need to know what resources and spaces exist for them, and how they can connect with other people like them
The role:
Bi Pride UK’s flagship Bi Pride event is a highlight of the year, and it’s the product of our amazing volunteers’ efforts throughout the year. Some volunteers are with us on the day of the event, some join us in the months running up to the event, and others are with us all year round. This is one of the year-round roles.
Before Covid, we delivered our first Bi Pride event attended by 1,300 people, becoming the biggest single day bi event in the world. It was an amazing success and the community response was overwhelmingly positive! In 2020 and 2021, our events went virtual, which gave us a lot to learn from about how we can make our events more accessible. in 2022, our flagship event came back in person in east London, and we were able to make it even more accessible than our 2019 event: 1,300 people joined us on the day, but this time we had 800 in attendance in person, and a further 500 people who joined us via our livestreams of the two event stages.
Access and inclusion at our events are central to our ethos, and we commit to making each event more accessible than the last. The Events Access Manager will be central to this, supporting the wider events team to consider how to build access into the fabric of every aspect of the event, coordinating access elements of the event such as BSL interpreters and overseeing on-the-day access assistant volunteers across the site and sensory room volunteers in the sensory room, and liaising with any prospective attendees to support them with their individual access needs.
Responsibilities will include:
- Working with Bi Pride UK’s Inclusion and Access to identify new ways to improve event access and diversity
- Working with other volunteers in the events team to identify potential access barriers during event planning
- Researching costings and options for event access features to deliver this aspect of work within budget
- Liaising with external suppliers in relation to equipment and services for access needs
- Acting as the point of contact for members of the public with specific access needs to attend our events
- Briefing and overseeing Access Assistant and sensory room volunteers at our flagship Bi Pride event
Our team volunteers remotely from anywhere in the UK, with some travel required occasionally (primarily for our flagship Pride event in London in September). Volunteers in the events team will typically meet remotely approximately twice a month, with the frequency increasing closer to the flagship Bi Pride event itself. All reasonable expenses incurred are reimbursed, including travel, lunch at away days and other all day events, and some childcare costs if required.
Volunteer specification:
- Interest and passion for tackling discrimination against and improving the visibility of people in the UK who experience attraction to more than one gender;
- Some understanding of the needs of bi people and communities in the UK;
- Commitment to the aims and objectives of Bi Pride UK;
- A creative problem solver, always seeking solutions;
- Meticulous attention to detail;
- Ability to self-motivate when working remotely;
- Strong written and oral communication skills;
- Strong understanding of marginalised communities, power dynamics and privilege;
- Experience of identifying and challenging entrenched and/or unconscious biases;
- Some understanding of access as it relates to an event management context;
- Well developed organisational and administrative skills;
- Experience of developing collaborative relationships with internal stakeholders;
- Some experience of overseeing volunteers.
The position is open to anyone over the age of 18. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, especially minority groups such as applicants of colour, trans and non-binary applicants and disabled and/ or neurodivergent applicants. Bi Pride UK is aware of the barriers that can be faced in gaining traditional work experience, particularly for global majority, disabled and/ or neurodivergent and trans people. We will give weight to this and encourage people when applying to consider caring responsibilities, including parenthood, volunteering, and other non-paid experiences and responsibilities when making their application.