Thursday, August 12, 2010
A huge thank you to all who worked with Hotbox Events at the 2010 Big Chill Festival! All of our staff and volunteers did a fantastic job at covering the varied positions we were asked to fill, often with very little notice!
Along with the CATs in the campsites, the HATs in the kids area and roaming the arena, those asked at the last minute to work on the various stages, installations, keep a check on the showers, look after the wildlife and more all did a fantastic job and we've received some great feedback.
We'd like to send a special thank you out to those who went above and beyond - helping out with the Big Burn on the Sunday night and in particular the Spencer Tunick Art Installation on the Sunday morning! We were definitely not expecting to be asked to steward a thousand naked festival goers and the odd naked member of festival production!
A couple of Hotbox Events staff would like to thank you all personally, please find their messages below.
Message from Rob Donovan follows...
At The Big Chill I faced possibly the strangest requests of my life - "Can you find 20 volunteers to steward around 1000 naked people tomorrow?". Knowing that our CATs & HATs are up for anything, even vast amounts of early morning nudity, I said I was sure I could find some willing volunteers to come along.
We arrived on the scene bright and early (6.30am) the following morning prepared to help Spencer Tunick and his team and were split into two groups - one manning the gate and one helping by the lake directing people joining in the art, ensuring that no non naked people got into the shot, moving bits and pieces around and generally helping the artist and his team.
We got the models through the gate and to the painting areas very quickly, closed off the top of the ridge way to everything except production traffic so no people would wander into shot and Spencer Tunick took his photo. The whole affair ran very smoothly and the naked people seemed to really enjoy it.
Thank you to all the CAT & HAT volunteers who came with us and helped to make this possible. As I say it was one of the more surreal roles we have had to fill but you took everything, even 850 naked people, in your stride remaining your enthusiastic, helpful and professional selves. Special thanks go to those who came from Team D and stayed on an extra two hours after the end of their night shift to make this possible.
Message from Mark Booth follows...
Having been a CAT for a few years at Latitude and Reading and taking on more diverse roles each time, I didn't hesitate when I was asked to go to the Big Chill and be one of the Hotbox Events-Festival Republic mini-bus drivers.
I had absolutely no idea or expectation that I would be approached by one of the management team asking "what are you doing at 6.15am tomorrow"? to which I replied... "maybe sleeping off the night before's birthday beers"... which was quickly followed up with "so do you fancy assisting a 1,000 naked festival goers for the Spencer Tunick photo-shoot"?
How could I refuse.
Part of my role in assisting the naked people was to guide them towards the different queues for their allocated colours for their body paint and to keep them in their colours.
When Spencer Tunick noticed that there was both vehicle and pedestrian traffic on the ridgeway, which was affecting his shots, I volunteered to be on the ridgeway at one end stopping vehicles and pedestrians so they would not be in shot.
It also gave me the opportunity to stop (in a friendly and professional manner) Melvin Benn in his buggy and have a nice chat with him whilst the shoot was continuing below us.
The shoot ended around 10.15am and appeared to have been a success, lots of naked and by now semi-naked people in the vibrant colours making their way back to their campsites or to the arena.
I was glad to have taken part in this historical and unique experience.
