Kenton Ambassadors
Be the voice of The Kenton in your community.
Love live theatre. Know your local community. Help us bring the two together.
For more than 200 years, The Kenton has brought people together through live performance. Now we want to make sure even more people across our wider area know what is happening here and feel that The Kenton is a theatre for them.
We are looking for our first Kenton Ambassadors, local volunteers who can help us reach Henley and the surrounding areas, build new relationships and make a real difference to the audiences we reach.
You do not need marketing experience or expert knowledge of theatre. What matters is that you know your area, enjoy meeting people and would like to play an active part in The Kenton’s future.
What will I do?
As an Ambassador, you will represent The Kenton in the area you know best.
That could mean:
- sharing news about shows and events with your local networks
- finding useful places for brochures, posters and flyers
- introducing us to clubs, schools, societies, community organisations and businesses
- spotting local events, partnerships and opportunities we should know about
- helping us understand what people in your area are interested in
- feeding ideas and local knowledge back to the Kenton team
It is not about selling tickets or being a professional marketeer. We want you to be a friendly, informed local voice for The Kenton.
What difference will I make?
Our Ambassadors will help us reach people we may not currently be reaching.
Your local knowledge could introduce someone to their first Kenton show, create a new relationship with a community group, help us promote the right production in the right place or simply make us better informed about the audiences living in Henley and beyond.
We will be looking at the impact the programme has across our communities so that, together, we can learn what works and build the network from there.
How much time is involved?
We are looking for volunteers who can aim to give around eight hours a month, plus join us for a monthly informal Ambassador get together at The Kenton.
Those eight hours can be used flexibly and in ways that suit both you and your area.
What can I expect from The Kenton?
The Kenton Marketing team will be your day to day point of contact and will provide the information, materials and support you need.
You will also have:
- an introduction to The Kenton and your Ambassador role
- regular programme and campaign updates
- monthly informal Ambassador get togethers
- opportunities for training and development
- invitations to selected Kenton events and activities
- opportunities to learn more about the theatre and its programme
- access to our wider Kenton volunteer community and the benefits offered as part of our volunteer programme
- the chance to meet people, share ideas and develop new skills
Most importantly, you will be part of a group helping one of the country’s oldest working theatres continue to thrive.
Who are we looking for?
There is no single type of Ambassador.
You may already be involved with local clubs, schools, businesses or organisations. You may know half the village. You may simply be someone who loves where they live and wants to become more involved.
We would particularly like to hear from people who are approachable, curious, reliable and comfortable talking to others.
We are initially launching Kenton Ambassadors with an 18+ pilot group while we establish the programme. We absolutely want young people to be part of the Ambassador network and intend to open opportunities to under-18s once the pilot is up and running, with the appropriate safeguarding and meeting arrangements in place. If you are under 18 and interested, please do still register your interest so we can keep you updated.
No previous volunteering or marketing experience is needed.
Where are we looking?
We want our Ambassador network to reflect the much wider area around Henley, not just the town itself.
For our first group, we are particularly interested in hearing from people connected with:
Benson, Caversham, Henley, Marlow, Nettlebed, Shiplake, Sonning Common, Twyford, Wargrave and Woodley.
We also want to hear from people in surrounding towns, villages and communities, including areas such as Binfield Heath, Bix, Charvil, Frieth, Hambleden, Hurley, Kidmore End, Mapledurham, Rotherfield Greys, and Sonning.
This is not a closed list. If you live somewhere else in the wider area and think you could help bring The Kenton closer to your community, please get in touch.
Interested?
We are beginning with a small pilot group of Community Ambassadors so that we can support everyone properly, learn from the experience and understand the impact before growing the network.
If you think this could be for you, we’d love to hear from you.