The Harris Museum and Art Gallery relies on volunteers in many areas and some of the vital services we provide would not be available if it was not for the goodwill of volunteers and the time they provide. For some volunteers, the process is a significant stepping stone, providing valuable experience in establishing a career within the museum service (or other areas), as well as an opportunity to further an interest or contribute to your local community.
We have a number of volunteer opportunities some of which are listed below. However we do often have other opportunies available so if you can't see something in this list that would interest you please contact me so we can arrange a time for a chat.
Guides
This involves conducting guided tours around different aspects of the building. We currently have three types of guides, Highlights of the Harris Guides, Egyptian Balcony Guides, Building Tour Guides and Exhibition Guides. Tours currently last about 45 mins. Scripts and training are provided.
Workshop Assistants
We often run workshops in conjunction with exhibitions. These are generally children's workshops for which a freelance artist is employed. These workshops can be held on the premises or at other locations around the city. Assistants help in the set-up, running and data collecting of workshops.
Information Assistants
We have a varied exhibition programme including costume, contemporary art, craft and historical and local history. Depending on the exhibition sometimes we ask for volunteer information assistants. This involves being in the gallery at agreed times to talk to visitors about the exhibition content.
External Events and Promotion Assistants
We occasionally take part in external promotional events (including Mela and tourist fairs etc). These involve talking to the public about the Harris Museum and Art Gallery, current exhibitions, future events/exhibitions and the service we provide. Sometimes these may take on a mini workshop form. We also need help with distributing promotional material about the Harris Museum and Art Gallery and we are keen on volunteers assisting with this by distributing material to all appropriate locations.
Research and Cataloguing Collections
We currently have three Keepers (Keepers of: Fine Art, Social History and Decorative Art). These keepers look after large collections and are often willing to provide research opportunities into certain aspects of these collections. Opportunities exists to help input paper records onto computer collections management systems.
Collections Care
Assisting keepers with the general care of collections including: packing and handling Sewing skills are sometimes useful.
Office Duties
Office duties is an aspect we are looking at expanding, however at the moment we do have opportunities such as assisting with mailouts and ad hoc office duties.
Costume Collection Champions
Opportunities to work with the costume collection. Current sessions include making padded hangers for collection storage.
