Volunteers Key to Festival Connections

By Jen Pfaltz

Volunteers at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival will see a new face in a key role this season. After seven years as the Norfolk Local Coordinator of Volunteers, Tom Hodgkin is stepping aside and passing the torch to your correspondent, Jen Pfaltz.

During his tenure, Hodgkin focused on strengthening the connection between the festival and the local community and noted how much he valued helping volunteers discover chamber music. Many who initially signed up out of curiosity, he said, found themselves deeply moved by the experience. Hearing a volunteer exclaim, “Wow, that was incredible!” was, for Hodgkin, a reminder of the shared impact of live performance.

He said he also found great satisfaction in working with the festival’s fellows, helping link them to the Norfolk community beyond the concert stage. By introducing them to local residents, sharing the town’s history and guiding them to community resources, Hodgkin sought to foster a sense of belonging that extended beyond the campus. “The festival is an important element of Norfolk, and Norfolk is an important part of the festival,” Hodgkin reflected. “It was always important that both sides felt that connection.”

In recent years, that connection has faced challenges. The disruption of Covid-19, followed by changes that moved all the fellows to on-campus housing, marked a significant shift in the relationship between the festival and the town. Hodgkin viewed these changes as a turning point and worked to help rebuild the community involvement that had long been a hallmark of the program.

The volunteer program has been central to that effort, growing to become a vital part of the six-week season. Volunteers support many of the festival’s ushering needs while also engaging closely with the guests and artists.

Although he has stepped away, Hodgkin said he has great confidence in the future of the program to expand and involve even more local residents in a world-class music festival right in their own backyards.