London 2012’s Games Makers – the handpicked, pink-and-purple-clad army who pitched in to make the Olympics such an organisational triumph – raised the bar this summer when it came to the effective deployment of a diverse and dedicated volunteer workforce.
Some of the capital’s cultural attractions have also been quick out of the blocks when it comes to opening volunteer opportunities to a wider audience and putting people to work in genuinely worthwhile projects.
The Volunteer Inclusion Programme (VIP), for example, is run by the Museum of London and is designed to augment the traditional volunteer intake – retired people, heritage buffs and students – with enthusiastic amateurs enlisted from, among others, the ranks of the homeless and unemployed.
These all-inclusive teams undertake ten-week projects at the London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre (LAARC) sorting, checking, labelling and packing objects, making them more accessible while freeing up valuable shelf space.
“It doesn’t matter what the volunteers’ personal situations are, archaeology is the common interest that brings them together,” says Adam Corsini, the museum’s archaeology collections manager (engagement).
“Some have previous experience and others don’t but their different backgrounds create a really interesting work environment.”
New experiences
Corsini says the scheme actively recruits rather than simply waiting for people to turn up and lend a hand. As well as the traditional museum communication channels, adverts are regularly placed in job centres and volunteer agencies, homeless charities and sheltered accommodation.
Demotivated office workers seeking a career change and people from overseas looking to brush up their language skills are similarly welcome.
“A lot of our volunteers simply want new experiences, to learn new skills or to experience some regularity in their lives,” says Corsini. “For the long-term unemployed, for example, coming here every Tuesday to work in a team is something they might not have done for years.”
The fixed 10-week cut-off point encourages the volunteers to think proactively about what they will do next, adds Corsini, with some staying on to help out with outreach and education programmes, others training to be tour guides for the archive or seeking jobs in the visitor services team.
“Some people, of course, want to go on and do something else entirely but leave us, I think, with improved confidence levels,” says Corsini.
“A lot of the skills they learn in collections care – particularly the auditing and filing tasks – are transferable to many other work environments as well as being incredibly valuable to the archive.”
The VIP scheme also includes a programme of shorter ‘mini’ projects designed for specific groups who might initially be put off by the scope of – and commitment required by – the 10-week courses. These include, for example, volunteers who may need to work alongside people they know.
“This also provides an opportunity for LAARC to build up our community links and for organisations to find out about us,” says Corsini. This year’s VIP Minis finds the museum working with the National Autistic Society, the Mulberry Centre (Lewisham) for people with learning difficulties and the St Mungo’s charity for the homeless.
Favourite objects
In addition, six VIP Borough projects see the archaeological centre collaborating with local communities on archaeology excavated from their neighbourhoods.
As well maximising storage space (it is estimated that the scheme has cleared room for some 600 new boxes) the work of the volunteers is making the archives more accessible and relevant to new audiences thanks, in part, to the museum’s use of social media.
“We have noticed that when we post information on the blog about artefacts that have been rediscovered by volunteers, a lot of specialists respond and some researchers from across the world come over to London to see them for themselves,” adds Corsini. There’s also interest within the wider museum.
A competition asking people to vote for their favourite found object at the end of each VIP programme now sees staff from all over the institution expressing a preference.
“It’s a large organisation but people who wouldn’t otherwise have got in touch with us – finance or hospitality, for example – are voting. A lot of departments otherwise wouldn’t know what we’ve got, what we do in the archive or that volunteers are even here doing such great work.
“This all shows that what we do with VIP has a great deal of importance, and wider appeal than simple collections care.”
Meanwhile across London, there are volunteers doing the washing up with a scientific twist at the Natural History Museum where the V Factor initiative – launched earlier this year – is helping palaeontologists to clean and process fossil corals collected in Indonesia.
They are based in the Specimen Preparation Area in the museum’s Darwin Centre, the home of the institution’s scientists and collections as well as a visitor attraction in its own right where the public can watch the scientists – and their volunteer helpers – go about their business.
Widening the net
“We get a lot of interest for all the opportunities we advertise and we have had to turn away potentially good people,” says Ali Thomas, volunteers project manager at the Natural History Museum.
She says the project helps the museum tap into the people who are genuinely interested in collections but that don’t necessarily want careers in the sector.
“The work is easily understandable but the value of it is immense. During the 10-week programme, the volunteers are trained on the science, such as the importance of marine eco-systems, in the morning with the collections-care activities in the afternoon.”
Some V Factor participants are invited back to later courses as volunteer leaders while others are encouraged to apply for further opportunities within the museum.
The Natural History Museum has traditionally advertised volunteer vacancies on its website, which was basically preaching to the culturally converted but V Factor opportunities are also circulated to local volunteer agencies in an effort to widen the net.
“V Factor has brought new life to the specimen preparation area where visitors can watch and interact with the scientists and the volunteers working alongside each other,” says Thomas, who is working on a new format of the programme for 2013.
“Hopefully, we’ll move into Earth sciences. I have my sights set on a biodiversity project in Borneo where researchers are currently collecting lots of specimens that could be ideal for new volunteers in April.”
Thomas, who is also considering opening up the programme to family groups, believes V Factor and similar schemes are the way forward for museums to make the most out of their volunteer workforce.
“I’ve been amazed by the interest shown in us by external organisations. Seeing science in action seems to impress everyone from college students coming to learn about the health and safety risks of laboratory working to educators eager to adapt what we’re doing for their own institutions.”
And she is keen to secure new funding. “We’re conscious that this has been a success for us and we want it to carry on growing, to continue to be a true collaborative effort and to never end up being tagged merely as an afterthought on to someone’s job specification.”
John Holt is a freelance journalist
Will Hunter was one of the first volunteers on the V Factor scheme, an initiative launched by the Natural History Museum earlier this year to get people involved in helping palaeontologists to clean and process fossil corals. Hunter has been asked to return to the museum scheme as a volunteer leader.
“V Factor is great because there isn’t just one set role; other behind-the-scenes volunteer opportunities involve just straightforward tasks but this had a learning element to it.
“Most days involved fossil preparation, scrubbing the hand specimens collected in the field and then sieving the sediment to collect the microfossil specimens.
“There were also weekly informal discussions about the importance of museums, the importance of coral reefs and so on.
We also spoke to the public about our volunteer experiences and the aims of the project and the research we were aiding.
“The diversity of the skills I’ve acquired will be invaluable as I apply for museum jobs.”
At the age of 16, Rehemat Bhatia did one week’s work experience in the wildlife garden at the Natural History Museum and jumped at the chance to return as a volunteer in the V Factor programme.
Currently studying Geoscience (MSci) at university, she is interested in working at the museum as a postdoctoral researcher in the mineralogy or palaeontology departments “specialising in meteorites or micropalaeontology”.
Curatorial work is also a new interest as a result of being involved in V Factor. “V Factor was a great break from university life as I could come to London and have a fun and intellectually stimulating day, always learning something new and exciting each week,” she says.
“Activities included washing coral specimens, teaching new volunteers and assisting during the ‘lesson’ part of the V Factor sessions, live tweeting V Factor sessions, labelling specimens and putting them into boxes ready for study and interacting with adults and children.”
Georgia Arnoczki, who is currently unemployed, saw details about the Natural History Museum’s V Factor scheme from a volunteer centre in London.
She says: “I wouldn’t have considered volunteering at all as I have no museum-related qualifications. But I was actively seeking something different to do.
“I’ve developed a few new skills and become much more confident in talking to visitors; doing something like this when you are unemployed helps you stay emotionally stable and positive. I feel much more appreciated and the people are really nice to work with.
“I am considering working in a museum and V Factor is giving me some experience in the field.”
Yulia Naumova moved to London with her husband from her native Russia in 2010.
A history fanatic, she began to investigate museum volunteering possibilities with a view to gaining a permanent job in the sector.
“The VIP project at the London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre was everything I had been looking for – work with real museum collections, enthusiastic teams, master-classes with professionals and, of course, the archaeology,” she says.
“It was my first international teamwork; other volunteers and members of staff backed me up all the time, kept calm when I did not understand a thing and were ready to explain again and again. The really big challenge was working with visitors. Somehow, I managed to attract probably every single Russian tourist in the Museum of London, including school groups.
It was great to see their interest (mixed with surprise) in our work and, who knows, maybe I stirred up passion for archaeology in someone.”
Inspired by her experiences, Naumova soon begins an internship at the V&A.
“The VIP project was so helpful in terms of team-working skills, confidence in communicating and collection care experience.”
Some of the capital’s cultural attractions have also been quick out of the blocks when it comes to opening volunteer opportunities to a wider audience and putting people to work in genuinely worthwhile projects.
The Volunteer Inclusion Programme (VIP), for example, is run by the Museum of London and is designed to augment the traditional volunteer intake – retired people, heritage buffs and students – with enthusiastic amateurs enlisted from, among others, the ranks of the homeless and unemployed.
These all-inclusive teams undertake ten-week projects at the London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre (LAARC) sorting, checking, labelling and packing objects, making them more accessible while freeing up valuable shelf space.
“It doesn’t matter what the volunteers’ personal situations are, archaeology is the common interest that brings them together,” says Adam Corsini, the museum’s archaeology collections manager (engagement).
“Some have previous experience and others don’t but their different backgrounds create a really interesting work environment.”
New experiences
Corsini says the scheme actively recruits rather than simply waiting for people to turn up and lend a hand. As well as the traditional museum communication channels, adverts are regularly placed in job centres and volunteer agencies, homeless charities and sheltered accommodation.
Demotivated office workers seeking a career change and people from overseas looking to brush up their language skills are similarly welcome.
“A lot of our volunteers simply want new experiences, to learn new skills or to experience some regularity in their lives,” says Corsini. “For the long-term unemployed, for example, coming here every Tuesday to work in a team is something they might not have done for years.”
The fixed 10-week cut-off point encourages the volunteers to think proactively about what they will do next, adds Corsini, with some staying on to help out with outreach and education programmes, others training to be tour guides for the archive or seeking jobs in the visitor services team.
“Some people, of course, want to go on and do something else entirely but leave us, I think, with improved confidence levels,” says Corsini.
“A lot of the skills they learn in collections care – particularly the auditing and filing tasks – are transferable to many other work environments as well as being incredibly valuable to the archive.”
The VIP scheme also includes a programme of shorter ‘mini’ projects designed for specific groups who might initially be put off by the scope of – and commitment required by – the 10-week courses. These include, for example, volunteers who may need to work alongside people they know.
“This also provides an opportunity for LAARC to build up our community links and for organisations to find out about us,” says Corsini. This year’s VIP Minis finds the museum working with the National Autistic Society, the Mulberry Centre (Lewisham) for people with learning difficulties and the St Mungo’s charity for the homeless.
Favourite objects
In addition, six VIP Borough projects see the archaeological centre collaborating with local communities on archaeology excavated from their neighbourhoods.
As well maximising storage space (it is estimated that the scheme has cleared room for some 600 new boxes) the work of the volunteers is making the archives more accessible and relevant to new audiences thanks, in part, to the museum’s use of social media.
“We have noticed that when we post information on the blog about artefacts that have been rediscovered by volunteers, a lot of specialists respond and some researchers from across the world come over to London to see them for themselves,” adds Corsini. There’s also interest within the wider museum.
A competition asking people to vote for their favourite found object at the end of each VIP programme now sees staff from all over the institution expressing a preference.
“It’s a large organisation but people who wouldn’t otherwise have got in touch with us – finance or hospitality, for example – are voting. A lot of departments otherwise wouldn’t know what we’ve got, what we do in the archive or that volunteers are even here doing such great work.
“This all shows that what we do with VIP has a great deal of importance, and wider appeal than simple collections care.”
Meanwhile across London, there are volunteers doing the washing up with a scientific twist at the Natural History Museum where the V Factor initiative – launched earlier this year – is helping palaeontologists to clean and process fossil corals collected in Indonesia.
They are based in the Specimen Preparation Area in the museum’s Darwin Centre, the home of the institution’s scientists and collections as well as a visitor attraction in its own right where the public can watch the scientists – and their volunteer helpers – go about their business.
Widening the net
“We get a lot of interest for all the opportunities we advertise and we have had to turn away potentially good people,” says Ali Thomas, volunteers project manager at the Natural History Museum.
She says the project helps the museum tap into the people who are genuinely interested in collections but that don’t necessarily want careers in the sector.
“The work is easily understandable but the value of it is immense. During the 10-week programme, the volunteers are trained on the science, such as the importance of marine eco-systems, in the morning with the collections-care activities in the afternoon.”
Some V Factor participants are invited back to later courses as volunteer leaders while others are encouraged to apply for further opportunities within the museum.
The Natural History Museum has traditionally advertised volunteer vacancies on its website, which was basically preaching to the culturally converted but V Factor opportunities are also circulated to local volunteer agencies in an effort to widen the net.
“V Factor has brought new life to the specimen preparation area where visitors can watch and interact with the scientists and the volunteers working alongside each other,” says Thomas, who is working on a new format of the programme for 2013.
“Hopefully, we’ll move into Earth sciences. I have my sights set on a biodiversity project in Borneo where researchers are currently collecting lots of specimens that could be ideal for new volunteers in April.”
Thomas, who is also considering opening up the programme to family groups, believes V Factor and similar schemes are the way forward for museums to make the most out of their volunteer workforce.
“I’ve been amazed by the interest shown in us by external organisations. Seeing science in action seems to impress everyone from college students coming to learn about the health and safety risks of laboratory working to educators eager to adapt what we’re doing for their own institutions.”
And she is keen to secure new funding. “We’re conscious that this has been a success for us and we want it to carry on growing, to continue to be a true collaborative effort and to never end up being tagged merely as an afterthought on to someone’s job specification.”
John Holt is a freelance journalist
Will Hunter
Will Hunter was one of the first volunteers on the V Factor scheme, an initiative launched by the Natural History Museum earlier this year to get people involved in helping palaeontologists to clean and process fossil corals. Hunter has been asked to return to the museum scheme as a volunteer leader.
“V Factor is great because there isn’t just one set role; other behind-the-scenes volunteer opportunities involve just straightforward tasks but this had a learning element to it.
“Most days involved fossil preparation, scrubbing the hand specimens collected in the field and then sieving the sediment to collect the microfossil specimens.
“There were also weekly informal discussions about the importance of museums, the importance of coral reefs and so on.
We also spoke to the public about our volunteer experiences and the aims of the project and the research we were aiding.
“The diversity of the skills I’ve acquired will be invaluable as I apply for museum jobs.”
Rehemat Bhatia
At the age of 16, Rehemat Bhatia did one week’s work experience in the wildlife garden at the Natural History Museum and jumped at the chance to return as a volunteer in the V Factor programme.
Currently studying Geoscience (MSci) at university, she is interested in working at the museum as a postdoctoral researcher in the mineralogy or palaeontology departments “specialising in meteorites or micropalaeontology”.
Curatorial work is also a new interest as a result of being involved in V Factor. “V Factor was a great break from university life as I could come to London and have a fun and intellectually stimulating day, always learning something new and exciting each week,” she says.
“Activities included washing coral specimens, teaching new volunteers and assisting during the ‘lesson’ part of the V Factor sessions, live tweeting V Factor sessions, labelling specimens and putting them into boxes ready for study and interacting with adults and children.”
Georgia Arnoczki
Georgia Arnoczki, who is currently unemployed, saw details about the Natural History Museum’s V Factor scheme from a volunteer centre in London.
She says: “I wouldn’t have considered volunteering at all as I have no museum-related qualifications. But I was actively seeking something different to do.
“I’ve developed a few new skills and become much more confident in talking to visitors; doing something like this when you are unemployed helps you stay emotionally stable and positive. I feel much more appreciated and the people are really nice to work with.
“I am considering working in a museum and V Factor is giving me some experience in the field.”
Yulia Naumova
Yulia Naumova moved to London with her husband from her native Russia in 2010.
A history fanatic, she began to investigate museum volunteering possibilities with a view to gaining a permanent job in the sector.
“The VIP project at the London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre was everything I had been looking for – work with real museum collections, enthusiastic teams, master-classes with professionals and, of course, the archaeology,” she says.
“It was my first international teamwork; other volunteers and members of staff backed me up all the time, kept calm when I did not understand a thing and were ready to explain again and again. The really big challenge was working with visitors. Somehow, I managed to attract probably every single Russian tourist in the Museum of London, including school groups.
It was great to see their interest (mixed with surprise) in our work and, who knows, maybe I stirred up passion for archaeology in someone.”
Inspired by her experiences, Naumova soon begins an internship at the V&A.
“The VIP project was so helpful in terms of team-working skills, confidence in communicating and collection care experience.”