To pay to volunteer!?

[Usernamqwerty]

I live in the home counties. I've been a SAHM for 2 years and want to go back to work in 2 years, possibly working in a theatre front-of-house / hotel receptionist role.

Am looking to get some experience volunteering with an amateur theatre company. I found two local ones which are looking for volunteers to help with front-of-house, crew refreshments etc.

One company puts on shows every couple of months which is ideal, as I can only help out on a Saturday due to DH working late during the week. However, they charge a £45 p.a. membership fee (this includes the chance to audition for stage roles, which I don't want to do).

The other company only charges £5 per year for backstage volunteers, but only put on two shows a year, so I would get less experience...

Not sure what to do. It seems really unfair for an organisation to charge people £45 to volunteer their time. Doesn't seem like a lot of money, but we are watching the pennies atm and £45 is actually a whole month's going out budget for me! If I was running an organisation and someone offered to come and help out for a few hours, I would bite their hand off and certainly wouldn't make them pay!! AIBU or is this the norm?

Someone else with theatre experience will know better than I do. But I've volunteered in different organisations and it's not the norm to have to pay. Usually any travel expenses are reimbursed.

Is this a highly sought after opportunity,is that why they charge? Or is it something to do with seeing the plays while you are working?

I work in a theatre. You can PM me if you like.
Front of house staff don't need much training, you just need to have a firm and friendly manner.
Most staff where I am are on zero hours contracts so you only get shifts when you say you're available.

I don't think an amateur theatre group is necessarily the best route to get into professional arts admin, especially out of town am-dram groups, which are seen as a bit laughable. I would consider something like doing some admin for professionally run youth arts, or another kind of arts charity, or maybe the local museum? You'll gain better skills and more cred and you won't have to pay, although ask about travel expenses, not all charities pay them.

Thank you all so much for your replies. Sorry this is so late!

After some pondering, I have joined two local theatre groups - one runs productions at a community theatre, all run by volunteers. I will be helping out at the box office, front of house and serving refreshments. The other one is in a professional theatre and I will be helping out in the backstage canteen :-)

This will only be about twice a month as they only do one show a month. Currently Saturday afternoons are my time off when my husband has the kids and I don't want to give up every Saturday to volunteering, so this arrangement works well for me.

Thanks IJustLostTheGame. I did consider applying for casual jobs, but didn't think they would be impressed with someone who's only available every other Saturday :-(

I am still possibly interested in trying to get a job in theatre in two years time, although it's not family-friendly hours, so feeling a bit stuck :-(. Will have another ponder...