How to Work With Parent Volunteers

It may look like magic, but it takes a lot of sweat and many hands to mount a studio’s Nutcracker production. The same goes for putting on any recital or performance, running a competition team, and keeping a dance school humming day to day.

Beyond the students, teachers, staff, and leadership, there’s often a stable of parent volunteers who help make it all possible. 

“There are so many things that wouldn’t happen in our studio without them,” says Traci Broman, who bought Village Dance Studio in Whitestown, Indiana, from her mother almost a decade ago. 

Dance Teacher talked with Broman and three other studio leaders about how they navigate the ins and outs of working with parent volunteers.

Designate Tasks

To support productions, parents might help sew and alter costumes, load sets and props in and out of the theater, manage the lobby, handle decorations, greet audiences, pass out programs, sell flowers and merch, staff dressing rooms, get kids backstage at the right times, and organize postshow celebrations. 

At Evolve Dance Studio in Rockford, Michigan, owner Megan Czarnopis appoints two competition-team parents to coordinate communication and field questions throughout the year. Parents also jump in to bring food to competition weekends, chaperone events, and help elsewhere as needed. When Evolve moved to a new location across from a retirement community, for example, Czarnopis asked a couple of parents if they’d step in to arrange student visits to meet and perhaps perform for their new neighbors. 

Know What Not to Assign

It’s equally important to consider where parents shouldn’t be involved, for liability, expertise, or other reasons. For instance, dressing-room roles are often limited to mothers and other female family members. Czarnopis also sets boundaries around leading warm-ups or run-throughs backstage. Broman likewise leaves everything onstage and in the studios to teachers and staff. Plus, “I don’t have the parents deal with complaints,” she says. “I want them to enjoy what they’re doing and not be yelled at.”

Studio West Dance Academy in Olympia, Washington, also avoids turning to volunteers (except the volunteer coordinator) for “anything where they would have access to personal information,” says marketing director Pam Abbott. 

Create Systems

For as long as Broman can remember, Village Dance Studio has had its Parents Council, which recently became its own nonprofit. The group still meets once a month to get updates and divvy up tasks. But it can now support the studio in other ways, like offering scholarships and a pointe shoe fund, running fundraisers more easily, and accepting tax-deductible donations.

The council has two co-chairs, with one usually rotating in each year for a two-year commitment. There are also treasurers, secretaries, and committee captains. Broman, like other studio owners, tries to find the balance between relying on parents who know the ropes and training new ones. Council meetings are optional, but parents whose kids join one of the studio’s performing groups are expected to attend at least half.

Every organization structures volunteer efforts differently. Westchester Ballet Company, a nonprofit based in Ossining, New York, that gives students across the region a chance to perform in The Nutcracker and other full-length ballets, has historically appointed a board member as volunteer coordinator, held a mandatory parent meeting at the start of the season, and used SignUpGenius to organize shifts. 

Executive director Amy Harte recommends documenting in real time and revisiting to make improvements. “We’re keeping notes throughout the production—‘This was great,’ ‘This was a disaster’—because you will so quickly forget,” she says. 

Calibrate Asks

Parents are often stretched thin. “I’ve been that parent volunteer before, and I know what it takes,” says Czernopis, which is one of the reasons she makes volunteering optional at Evolve. 

But there are other ways schools can allow for flexibility while ensuring they get what they need. At Studio West and Westchester Ballet Company, parents are required to participate with a certain number of shifts or hours—or pay an opt-out fee. And they’re always gauging whether they’re asking for the right amount of commitment. Studio West landed on two shifts per family per production, Abbott says. “One wasn’t enough and two was the happy medium.” 

In the past, Westchester Ballet expected parents to give eight hours during Nutcracker season and four to six for spring productions. “We’ve realized that this is just too much. It’s too much stress,” Harte says. So they’re adjusting the model to ease the burden on parents, hiring more staff backstage, and leaving set transport and load-in to professionals.

Broman regularly checks in with the council co-chairs and committee captains. “That gives me a pretty good pulse of things as far as who’s overwhelmed, who feels like they can’t get it done in time, or who feels like they’re doing too much,” she says. Then she can prioritize and spread responsibilities around. 

Thank and Connect

At Westchester Ballet cast parties, thank-yous figure prominently into speeches. Harte also approaches each family personally to express her gratitude. “I position myself in the room [so] that everyone will come past me,” she says.      

Czarnopis also acknowledges parent volunteers every chance she gets. “I couldn’t do any of it without them,” she says. “I do really make sure to always vocalize that.”

Village Dance Studio lists and thanks volunteers in performance programs, shares appreciation posts on social media, and does newsletter spotlights. The council co-chairs typically write thank-you notes to committee captains. Other studios also offer discounts or credits in exchange for specific, taxing shifts or as ad hoc gestures. 

“Everybody likes to be appreciated differently,” Broman says. Some might want a public declaration, while others prefer to hear it one on one. Being attentive to these differences is part of a larger effort to build relationships and community. The better you get to know parents, personalities, and skills, the easier it is to tap the right people for the right tasks. And parents who feel connected want to pitch in, Abbott says. 

Leaders can also help parents see what they stand to gain. “You will reap so many rewards in terms of the friendships that you build with the other families,” Harte says. “You’re not just supporting your child. You’re not just supporting the production. In the end, you’re feeding your own soul through your volunteerism. That’s a great perk.”