Volunteering with The Arts Society

Our volunteers offer their time and energy to help us preserve and celebrate the arts and heritage. But you also get something back from volunteering – you’ll make new friends, learn new skills, and you can enjoy knowing you are making a huge difference.

Watch our short video below to learn more.

Our Societies are run entirely by volunteers; a massive achievement by our members. Many Societies also have teams of volunteers who focus on the following areas of work in their local community:

ARTS VOLUNTEERING

Arts projects benefit everyone and we encourage and support Societies to offer engaging projects in a wide range of arts to groups of all ages in their local communities.

Following the pandemic with isolation for schoolchildren and amongst older people and the impact on communities it has never been more important to support access to the arts.

Working with schools, museums, local charities and community groups, our volunteers support projects across a broad spectrum of arts. They are passionate about the benefits that creativity and arts education can bring to their community.

If you are passionate about helping others to have the opportunity to discover the arts, contact your local Society to find out more about how to become a volunteer or email volunteering@theartssociety.org

HERITAGE VOLUNTEERING

If heritage is your passion and you want to make a difference, this might be the role for you. Working closely with the curators and volunteering managers of museums, archives, gardens and historic houses, you will get to spend time behind the scenes in these wonderful places as part of the team.
From the conservation of books to research projects in historic parks and gardens, our volunteers are busy all over the UK helping to conserve and protect the nation’s heritage for future generations. They are trained by experts and work in many different roles including book conservators, stewards and archivists in heritage sites.

To find out about becoming a Volunteer, contact our membership team on volunteering@theartssociety.org or join your local Society today.

TRAILS OF DISCOVERY

Discovering a place of worship, an historic building or town through art, artefacts and social history can be inspiring. Trails are for everyone and draw attention to the art, architecture, local history and culture within a historic site, a place of worship or an area.
Trails in churches have been designed for people living with dementia to evoke memories and prompt conversation with family or carers.
VOLUNTEER WITH THE ARTS SOCIETY
Your local Society may already have some volunteering initiatives underway. Speak to them about the opportunities on offer. To find your nearest Society please click here.
For other volunteering queries, and if you have an idea for a new volunteering initiative, please email volunteering@theartssociety.org

Volunteering Sound Bites

Listen to stories from our volunteers about how they offer their time and energy to deliver outstanding arts and heritage projects.

Volunteers Chris Hemming, Jan Tucker, Wendy Burdett, Gill Waller and Susan Merelie share their experiences of volunteering. Click play below to listen.

The Marsh Awards

Every year the Marsh Christian Trust recognises some of the outstanding contributions made by volunteers of The Arts Society in the field of heritage conservation and arts education.
Link to Marsh Awards page

Volunteer with The Arts Society

There are different ways in which you can take part in volunteering with us ranging from helping to run one of our Societies to taking part in projects involving arts and heritage in the local community.

In order to be covered by our insurance, our volunteers are required to become members of The Arts Society. This can either be a member of a local Arts Society or as a Supporter Member.

In order to find out where your nearest Society is please visit https://theartssociety.org/our-societies or if you do not want to join a Society, details of our Supporter Membership can be found at https://theartssociety.org/member-benefits

If you have any queries about volunteering please email volunteering@theartssociety.org

Church Recording

Between 1973-2020 Church Recording volunteers completed the momentous task of recording the contents of over 2,000 churches. Working in small groups volunteers researched and documented the memorials, metalwork, stonework, woodwork, textiles, paintings, libraries, windows and miscellaneous items found in churches across the country. Church Records now reside with local record offices, Church Care, Historic England and the National Art Library at the V&A. These records have previously assisted with local fundraising, grant applications, insurance and research. Interesting past finds have also been reported to The Royal Armouries, National Portrait Gallery and Royal Museums Greenwich to expand their own archives. We wish to offer our sincere thanks to Church Recorders past and present for their hard work and dedication to completing this amazing project.

From 2021 The Arts Society is no longer affiliated with Church Recording but the work is continued by The Church Recording Society and for information on The Church Recording Society and its activities please see - churchrecordingsociety.org.uk