On December 5-7 the world of volunteering in culture will meet in the Grand Theater - National Opera and the Kordegarda Gallery for the 1st Polish National Conference on "Volunteering in Culture". This is the first event of this type during which experts and practitioners will share knowledge with participants in the field of management of volunteers in cultural institutions. The organizers of the event are the National Center of Culture, the Center for the Thought of John Paul II, and The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation.
International Volunteer Day
On the occasion of International Volunteer Day, Anna Dymna, president of the "Mimo Wszystko" (In Spite of Everything) Foundation, prepared a letter for volunteers in which she wrote: Dear Volunteers, thanks to you the world is truly better. (.) In all fields of your work, you bring joy, give people strength, a smile, and faith that tomorrow will be better. You infect them with your ideas and energy (.) It is fortunate that you are here and that there are more and more of you. I thank fate that as president and a volunteer, I am part of your family and together with you can brighten the world.
1st Polish National Conference on "Volunteering in Culture"
For nearly a year, the three conference organizers have been developing and professionalizing projects aimed at changing the image of volunteering and volunteers. They have organized training connected with a grant competition for coordinators of volunteering in cultural institutions. They have published "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. Cooperation with many institutions across Poland has made it clear that they have a strong need for launching projects involving volunteers. This gave rise to the idea for the conference.
Representatives of 108 institutions from 40 towns will participate. During panel discussions and workshops they will learn about the best examples of carrying out volunteer activities in institutions across Poland. The potential of cultural institutions in the context of volunteering cannot be overestimated, but there is still a lack of knowledge, tools and opportunities for exchange of good practices and effective solutions. We would like to share our knowledge and over 11-year experience with the building of Employee Volunteering, stresses Krzysztof Kaczmar, president of The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation.
Meetings with experts, leaders of the best volunteering projects, workshops - this is what is waiting for conference participants. As Eliza Dzwonkiewicz, Acting Director of the National Center of Culture says, The primary contribution which the National Center of Culture wants to make to the Volunteering in Culture project is support for the professionalization of that field, understood as assistance for cultural institutions that wish to organize and develop a volunteering program.
Currently there are few places where volunteering is part of the strategy and volunteers are part of the team. Norbert Szczepański, Director of the Center for the Thought of John Paul II underscores the importance of the individual in volunteering: By getting involved in volunteering in culture, we want to remember the teachings of our patron John Paul II, who said that an institution in and of itself cannot replace the human heart, human sympathy, human love, human initiative. The activities of the Center (a local government cultural institution) always focus on people.
According to research conducted by Dr. Thomas Godlewski of the University of Warsaw, the vast majority of people professionally involved in the management of volunteering in cultural institutions also privately engage in unpaid volunteer work for the benefit of others, at least several times a month. In the opinion of those managing volunteers, the biggest motivating factors that encourage volunteers to work in cultural institutions are the gaining of new experiences, contacts with new people, the possibility of active participation in culture, and the inner satisfaction that comes from volunteer activities.
In the Grand Theater - National Opera the conference's panel discussions and workshops will take place. I have great hope that those young people who are today drawn to us - not only to the National Opera, but also to other theaters, museums, concert halls, festivals - will take away from their present adventures with volunteering much more than just professional experience and knowledge. In the future they might form a group which is guided not only by financial status, but also by social consciousness and an inner need to get involved in community service in a well-thought-out way, says Waldemar D±browski, Director of the Grand Theater - National Opera.
Volunteer Cultural Ticket, December 3-12, 2016
The 1st Polish National Conference is accompanied by the first edition of the Volunteer Cultural Ticket. 65 institutions from 12 towns across the country will give out over 2500 tickets for training sessions, workshops, shows, films, and exhibitions aimed at volunteers. For events in connection with the Ticket, one can register at www.wolontariatwkulturze.pl
Organizers: National Center for Culture, Center for the Thought of John Paul II, The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation
Partner: Grand Theater - 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
Participation in all events is free of change.
We invite you to use the hashtag #wolontariatwkulturze
