A Volunteer's Lament

I have been a volunteer Publicity Advisor for Coal Creek Community Theater for a little over 4 years now. When I started, I was thrilled to be able to channel my energy into something that would help promote theatre - one of my biggest passions. I jumped in with both feet and I'm proud to say that, over the past 4 years, I've built a pretty stable marketing program for the theatre. I submit all the press releases, send email blasts to the membership, write and design the quarterly newsletter, help obtain stories in the newspapers and theatre critics, design the posters, postcards, business cards, design and layout the programs, the season brochure, manage all the printing, assist with updating the website, send out mass mailings to the membership and area businesses, manage business sponsors, help with grant applications and essentially if anything is ever printed or sent to more than 5 people, I have touched it in some way. And keep in mind that I have to perform these tasks numerous times a month all year long. Again, this is a complete volunteer position and I do this work after working 40 hours a week at my real job. There are parts about it that I really love and the work I have done for the theatre helped me land my current career, for which I am very thankful. But, after 4 years of this work, I have quite the bitch list and I feel I need to get it all out before I explode.

• I'm tired of hearing that publicity is the answer to all questions and the reason behind all failure.
• I resent the fact that my job is far more time consuming and difficult than the vast majority of the other board positions. I also resent the fact that other board members only show up for meetings and feel that they are actually contributing to the group in a big way.
• It stresses me out to no-end that I feel like I can never give this job over to someone new. No one would want to take it over and I care about it too much to just throw it in the garbage.
• I can't control what a newspaper decides to print or what a website decides to post to their calendar. All I can do is submit the information (which I always do!), so please stop asking me why something is or isn't in the paper.
• It drives me crazy when people pester me about if or when a press release will be sent. Of course it will be sent. I always send it. I will copy you on it when I do send it. I only have a thousand other tasks to do this week, so leave me alone!
• I hate getting a thousands comments/edits on artwork I've created for a poster or post card. It's really hard coming up with original designs (especially with such limited time and resources) so the theatre doesn't have to pay for copyrighted material. Unless I completely miss the point with the poster or unless you can provide me with a clear concept and artwork ready to use, I am only asking you to edit content. I think my designs are pretty dang good so leave the imagery to me.
• It's really frustrating to have to go to 5 different people to just get the information I need to complete one project. And the fact that 4 out of 5 of those people never respond to email makes my job that much more (needlessly) difficult.
• DEADLINES: a word that means absolutely nothing to the vast majority of people. I need time to do a layout or design, time is needed for proof reading and the printer needs time to complete the project. This means that deadlines must be followed in order to get things done in time, but of course I get things late and I have to work well into the night to make up the time. This really sucks.

Am I a little burnt out? yeah. Ok, a lot burnt out? yeah. So you say, you're just a volunteer, you can quit at any time. Well, it's more to me than that. I take responsibility for my work and would hate to see the theatre suffer if I just stopped doing my job. The work is, at times, very enriching and rewarding, but I fear the time is steadily approaching where my laments outweigh the rewards. And at that point, I'm not helping the theatre at all. So, if anyone wants to become the new Publicity Advisor for CCCT, training begins on Monday. :)