When writing this, I was in my third year at the HUMAK University of Applied Sciences, studying to become a cultural producer. Let’s go back to when I found myself studying volunteer leadership at HUMAK.
Subculture music has been a hobby of mine since I was young. Not as someone who plays an instrument, but someone who concentrates on listening. In 2009, I got a chance to join an association called Mavericks in Tampere. This non-profit association has organized events in Tampere since 1997. From the very beginning, it was clear to me that I wanted to develop and bring something new to the events. Little by little, I asked for tasks that are more demanding and more responsibility in organizing events. During the next years, I advanced from ticket sales to helping the event organization committee and I became the secretary of the association. I became a co-producer of the event in 2013 and since 2014 I have been the event producer and chairperson of the association.
In the spring of 2014, I realized that the field of culture is definitely for me, so getting an education is the thing to do – so I entered the joint application for a culture producer’s degree at the University of Applied Sciences. I didn’t get in the first time around, but that fall I began the university’s open studies in the field of culture and in the spring of 2015 I was admitted to the school.
I work as a producer at the Tampere Hall productions office and I graduated in the spring. The purpose of this blog is to get others thinking about how volunteering can also become a job. What could be better than your hobby becoming a career! You get to do what you really enjoy and what is important to you.
Text: Jiri Ahonen
In the academic year 2017-2018, the writer studied volunteer leadership at the HUMAK University of Applied Sciences.
Translation: Satu Puolitaival