Top Ten Signs You'd Make a Great GMOA Volunteer

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top ten

signs you'd make a great GM

0A volunteer

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You're a people person.

The Georgia Museum of Art's volunteers, whether

full-time or part-time and no matter in which area they assist, work with many people. Docents lead tours for visitors from four-year-olds to senior citizens; museum shop workers help find the pertect gift; interns work with everyone who makes an exhibition happen; and the Friends of the Museum throw bang-up fundraisers every year,

with plenty of meetlng and greeting.

You've always loved art.

ll you know art and/or know what you like, your knowledge is welcome. The Friends of the lVuseum have a committee devoted to acqui-

sitions, and interns may end up helping to curate exhibitions or contributino to exhlbitlon cata logues. Docents take classes in art history and art interpretation each time the museum changes exhibitions and learn about contemporary, decorative, and traditional arts and artists.

You know nothing about art.

Theres no reason t0 feel intimidated because you

didn't major in art history. The museum needs volunteers in a huge variety of areas, including

public relations, publications, fundraising, and the finance, education, and membership committees of the Friends. l{ you can edit, write a press release, 0perate a cash register, understand a library {iling system, figure out what makes pe0ple want to come t0 a museum, or budget with flair, we want you whether or not you can tell us Rembrandt's last name.

You need another class for next semester.

Current students at the University of Georgia can apply for volunteer internship positions and,

occasionally, receive colleoe credit {or them. As an intern in any of the museums departments,

you'll gain valuable job experience as you learn from the inside how a multiJaceted nonprofit organization works.

6. You've heard about the perks.

Students with internships aren't the only ones who get something concrete 0ut of volunteering at the museum, The Friends ol the Museum

receive bi-monthly newsletters, a discount on Museum Shop items, invitations t0 previews and parties, and art-related travel opportunities (from a road trip of a lew h0urs t0 crossing the Atlantic).

Docents, who are required to join the Friends, also get a copy of each museum-published catalogue, and all volunteers have a chance to win the Smitty, the 0scar Ior museum volunteers.

5. You're a veritable 0ld Faithfu of new ideas.

Fresh faces and fresh ideas are always in demand

at any organizatlon, and the museum embraces those individuals who can (and regularly do) think outside the box. As the museum begins its next half-century in operation, it needs new blood to invigorate it, and volunteers often bring unique ways ol solving problems with them.

You aren't lying when you say you like children

The department of education continually needs volunteers for its Family Days (Saturday morning art events for kids), as well as the many other events that they plan. Docents who would adore explaining modernist painting to a tour group of fourth-graders are few and Iar between, so if thats

your idea of a perfect morning or afternoon, come on in.

You have the enthusiasm of Regis Philbin.

The bigger your smile when immersed in a project, the greater the degree ol excitement you can work up lor special events, and the better you

leel alter a job well done, the more the Georgia Museum of Art wants you as a volunteer.

2. You have Georgia on your mind.

As representatives of the official state museum of art, the museum's volunteers, whether sixthgenerati0n Southerners or originally hailing from the other side ol the world, should want to make Georgia and the Georgia Museum of Art an example to 0ther states as a center 0l art and culture.

.1.

Just think of yourself as a phiianthropist.

Although the definition ol volunteering includes n0t getting paid, the museum hopes you'll gain non-monetary rewards from helping out: lile experience, job experience, new friends, and plenty of fond memories.

The Georgia Museum of Art

90 Carlton Street Athens, Georgia 30602 www.uga.edu/gamuseum

VOLUNTEER AT THE GEORGIA MUSEUM OF ART

For lnformation on joining the Friends ol the Museum, call 542-0830

For inlormation 0n v0lunteering in the museums library, call 542-4662.

For information on internships, call the lntern C

oo rd

i

nator al 5 42-2303.

For information on becoming a docent, call the department ol education al 542-0448.

For inlormation on volunteering in the Museum Shop, call the museum shop manager at 542-0450.

0n the cover: Museum lounder Alfred H. Holbrook, the original GM0A volunteer.