The team is made of people who came once and stayed.
We have no employees. We have city coordinators and volunteers who take time off work to stand in a park for four hours and ask people whether they want a hug.
Who does what at an event
Event coordinator
Picks the place, talks to the city hall or the festival organiser, splits the shifts. The person who answers if something goes wrong.
One per city.
Contact volunteer
Stands with open arms and asks. Goes through the consent training before the first event, no exceptions.
Between 6 and 20, depending on the size of the event.
Photographer
Photographs without getting in the way, respects every refusal, and hands the photos over the same week, so they reach the gallery while the day is still fresh.
One or two.
Logistics person
The tent, the T-shirts, the water, the wristbands, the box of stickers. The work nobody sees and without which nothing holds together.
Two.
Communications person
Writes about what happened, answers on social media, keeps in touch with the local press.
One.
Trainer
Runs the consent training for volunteers and the courses in companies and schools.
One or two.
Why there are no names here
Because nobody appears publicly without having said they want to. Volunteers come from small towns, where a photo on a website travels fast, and some would rather not be known at work as “the one who hugs people in the park”.
As each person gives their consent, their name and photo appear here. Until then, what matters is what they do, not what they are called.