ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case study of a Bulgarian music festival, the Spirit of Burgas, which takes place every year in the city of Burgas, the fourth largest city in Bulgaria, located on the Black Sea coast, 340 km from the capital Sofia. Almost all festivals through the ages have involved some kind of music, but in the contemporary world international music festivals have become increasingly common. The Spirit of Burgas was also named as one of the Top 20 European Music Festivals for 2009 in The Times and a program about the Festival was broadcast across the MTV European Network in 16 countries. The chapter reviews the existing academic literature on music festivals and then discusses the various motivations for volunteering in these settings. It also briefly discusses the qualitative methodology used. Following this, the findings are discussed in terms of the motivations of the festival volunteers, their work experiences during the festival and their overall leisure experiences.
