Meet Our New Volunteer Coordinator

Thanks to everyone who applied to be our Volunteer Coordinator! We had a great pool of applicants and it was a difficult choice. Ultimately we decided on the amazing Stina Pederson, who has been volunteering for the past couple years. You can meet her in person if you volunteer, but in the meantime, here’s a little letter she wrote to tell you more about herself.

Here’s Stina as the Blue Freak in 2012

Hi Fringers!

I am thrilled to be joining the Hollywood Fringe Festival as the new Volunteer Coordinator. I began participating in the festival as a volunteer in 2012. My first Fringe memory is of putting on a Fringe Freak bodysuit in the backseat of Stacy Jones Hill’s car on the way to the WeHo Pride Parade. It was that kind of intimate, weird, and oh-so-fun experience that brought me back the following year to volunteer once more. When I saw that the festival was seeking a Volunteer Coordinator, I jumped at the chance to be an integral part of pulling people in and immersing them in the glory that is Hollywood Fringe.

I first got a taste of the fringe theatre scene in Seattle, WA, where I produced and stage managed a zero-budget and beautifully directed and acted stage version of Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood. I wanted to make more art and I happened to be engaged to an actor who always wanted to make more art, so we set out from Seattle in 2008 on a journey around the world with grand dreams of earning our keep on the streets—as buskers, of course.

Our journey brought us to Los Angeles, the perfect place for my now-husband to keep acting and for me to pursue other artistic passions like writing and music while still being involved in producing. I’m so thankful I landed at the Fringe Festival, which reminds me of my first foray into fringe theatre and gives me the opportunity to keep that part of me alive and kicking.

This year will be awesome. I can’t wait to get former and new volunteers and interns plugged into the vibrant community of the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Look out for upcoming Volunteer Orientations and follow the Hollywood Fringe Volunteer Twitter account (@hffvolunteer) to stay up-to-date on volunteer opportunities and the witty stuff I might say.

Stina