On December 5-7, the Grand Theater - National Opera was the venue of the first Polish national meeting of coordinators of volunteering in cultural institutions. The conference was attended by 133 individuals from 40 Polish towns and from 108 institutions. Over the three-day period, there were five panel discussions involving both experts and volunteers. There were also 10 workshops during which participants learned about various methods of working with volunteers. The conference was accompanied by the Volunteer Cultural Ticket, an initiative of 65 cultural institutions, which taking note of and appreciating the work of volunteers prepared for them a pool of nearly 2,500 free tickets to a variety of cultural events.
Conference participants pointed to some key factors that can assist the development of volunteering in culture. According to them, it is important that a coordinator dealing with volunteers should have personal experience with volunteering (nearly half the event participants not only manage volunteers, but also have experience with being volunteers themselves). Another key element in the further development of volunteering in culture is to build up the image of cultural institutions as spaces friendly to volunteers. Coordinators point out that it is also important that persons who take care of volunteers be able to function within the structure of an institution as employees who have this as part of their job responsibilities. Also necessary are support for development of work-related skills and knowledge and integration of people dealing with volunteering in cultural institutions.
The organizers of the event were the National Center of Culture, the Center for the Thought of John Paul II, and The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation. For nearly a year, these institutions have been developing and professionalizing projects with a view to changing the image of volunteering and of volunteers. They organized training linked to a grant competition, aimed at coordinators of volunteering in cultural institutions. They also published "A Recipe for Volunteering", the first manual in Poland on management of volunteering in cultural institutions; on December 5, it was made available as an e-book, which can be downloaded free of change at www.nck.pl. The cooperation thus far with many institutions across Poland has made it clear that they have a strong need for launching projects involving the participation of volunteers. This gave rise to the idea for the conference.
Study of volunteers
Dr. Tomasz Godlewski of the University of Warsaw conducted a study of volunteers based on a sample of 1120 interviews; these were participants in the Volunteer Cultural Ticket initiative. Over half of those surveyed are committed volunteers working in organizations at least several times a month. The length of volunteer work varies greatly. The majority of respondents have been involved in volunteer work from one year to five years; however, there is no shortage of "novices" at the beginning of their volunteer adventures, nor of "seasoned veterans" active over 10 years. Volunteer work is usually steady and long-term. The majority of the volunteers who took part in the study are focusing their commitment on one institution. The most important factors motivating survey participants to engage in volunteer work are the need for a sense of community and the desire to establish contacts with new people.
Organizers: National Center for Culture, Center for the Thought of John Paul II, The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation
Partner: Grand Theatre - National Opera
Community action partner: Anna Dymna "Mimo Wszystko" (In Spite of Everything) Foundation
Media patrons: TVP KULTURA, Polish Press Agency (PAP)
Honorary patronage of the conference was provided by Piotr Gliński, Minister of Culture and National Heritage
For further information, please visit www.wolontariatwkulturze.pl
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