Volunteers Help Keep Safety a Top Priority at Edmonds Center for the Arts

Editor's note: The following was written by Beth Braun, marketing manager for the Edmonds Center for the Arts.

With more than 50,000 patrons per year attending events, safety is serious business at Edmonds Center for the Arts, and safety training is conducted annually for all volunteers and staff.

More than eighty volunteers who serve Edmonds Center for the Arts as door attendants, ticket sshers and concessions servers participated in this year’s session with staff and firefighters from Snohomish County Fire District One (which serves the city of Edmonds) to learn and practice techniques to keep patrons safe in the event of an emergency.

As part of their training, volunteers are instructed how to respond to both common and uncommon occurrences during performances and events at ECA.  As part of an evacuation drill, a few volunteers are given roles to play, such as patrons with mobility challenges or patrons needing extra attention during an emergency.

Fellow volunteers serving at their various posts inside the theater were asked to respond to these scenarios while the evacuation was underway.

“Each year, we evaluate and modify our training sessions, as well as reinforce core functions to improve our emergency response”, says Jeff Vaughan, ECA operations manager, who, along with the patron services manager, leads the training for the volunteers.

“Having the additional support from Fire District One has been great. They’re always eager to help, and their feedback has played a key role in helping us make improvements to our training.”

“Volunteers play a critical role for us,” adds patron services manager Jim Kristian. “They’re positioned throughout the auditorium and would most likely be the first responders in an emergency. We couldn’t do what we do without them,” he said.

“ECA volunteers contributed over 7,000 hours last season, equaling about $100,000 in value to ECA. It’s really a gift to the entire community, and we are extremely grateful.”

ECA’s sixth season begins on Oct. 5 with Grammy-award winning jazz singer Dianne Reeves. Here is a link to the schedule.