Help sell fair-trade Amazon handicrafts at summer music festivals

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Center for Amazon Community Ecology (CACE)

CACE is non-profit organization based in State College, PA that helps traditional artisans in the Peruvian Amazon to develop and market innovative fair-trade handicrafts. Our programs create sustainable livelihoods, promote forest conservation and support local needs in their communities. We currently host skill-sharing and leadership workshops with artisans from fifteen communities in northern Peru to stimulate their creativity, energize their connection to their culture and nature, and strengthen their organizations. As a member of the Fair Trade Federation, we pay artisans promptly for their work and dedicate part of our craft sales to support health, education and conservation needs in their communities. We are now selling handicrafts at music festivals, fair trade shops and online ( www.AmazonForestStore.org).

The Amazon Forest Roadshow and Craft Ambassadors

Our Amazon Forest Store is going on the road again this summer to sell Amazon fair-trade handicrafts at music festivals in the eastern U.S. From late June through early September, we will have a booth at folk, rock, jazz and bluegrass festivals from Kentucky to Rhode Island and other states in between. See our schedule at www.AmazonEcology.org. We are seeking a few energetic Amazon Craft Ambassadors to help us sell crafts made by our partners at these events. The main Ambassador tasks would be to help set up our booth, sell crafts, and help festival attendees connect with the people, plants and places involved in making them. Ambassadors can also assist our pre-festival marketing and outreach to supporters, customers, and influencers and preparing the materials needed for the festival.

The Rhythm of a festival

Each three to four day-long festival has its own culture and community of performers, vendors and attendees. We arrive the day before the event begins to set up our exhibitor’s tent and display materials and lay out the crafts in an attractive way. During the festival, we are open from morning through the last performance of the day. We aim to create an Amazon-like environment for our booth visitors by decorating it with tropical plants, playing sounds of rainforest animals, and displaying large photos of artisans at work. Ambassadors will welcome and engage visitors by sharing stories about the origin of the crafts, our work and community partners. They will also help them deepen their experience by viewing 360 degree videos of Amazon artisans and nature through virtual reality goggles. We camp and eat our meals near the booth and enjoy down time listening to live music and hanging out with other festival attendees. At the end of the event, we pack up the crafts, display materials and tent, load everything into our vehicle, and head home.

Amazon Forest Ambassador program

CACE is seeking Amazon Forest Ambassadors with a special set of qualities and skills. First, they need to have a passion for this cause because they will need to be able to share their sincere enthusiasm for our mission to potential customers. They will ideally have some experience as a salesperson or canvasser and enjoy engaging with all kinds of people. It simply does not work to have someone sit in a chair, wait for customers to wander into the tent and bring an item to the register. Our ambassadors will need to be able to help put up and take down our tent and displays, have an eye for attractive ways to present our crafts, have patience and clarity working with volunteers, and have the integrity and strong attention to detail needed to record craft sales and donations. Basic skills with photography, video and social media would be an added plus to promote our products and presence at the festivals. Possession of a valid driver’s license would be also be a helpful attribute.

The more an Ambassador invests in us, the more we will invest in them. We will provide meals and a free festival pass for first-time Ambassadors who help us through an entire festival. At some events, we will also be able to provide a full or partial festival pass to volunteers who help with booth set-up, packing up and/or sales. After Ambassadors have helped us staff at least one entire festival, we may be able to provide partial or full transportation costs to staff our booth at subsequent festivals. After staffing at least three entire festivals, we may also be able to provide a small stipend and/or sales commission for staffing our booth at subsequent festivals. After staffing at least five entire festivals, we may offer partial support to Ambassadors to become an Amazon Field Volunteer. This would involve spending two to six weeks assisting CACE projects with artisans in northern Peru. In all cases, we will be happy to provide Ambassadors with a letter of recommendation and/or other documents needed to certify completion of requirements for an internship or community service.

Application process

To apply for a position as an Amazon Forest Ambassador, please send your resume including the names and contact information for 3-4 personal and professional references and a cover letter to Campbell Plowden, CACE Executive Director at cplowden@amazonecology.org. Your cover letter should summarize your interest and qualifications for this position, contact information, links to your social media pages, and festivals you would potentially be available to assist us this summer. Please visit www.AmazonEcology.org to see the dates and location of festivals we are either confirmed or tentatively scheduled to attend. We will review all applications on a rolling basis as soon as they are received and contact potential candidates to set up an interview.