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With only a small paid staff, The Drawing Studio is truly volunteer driven. In any given year, a couple of hundred volunteers contribute approximately 10,000 hours to The Drawing Studio. Volunteers serve in many capacities: Board members, front desk/gallery reception, special events, exhibition oversight and implementation, cleaning and maintenance, library, teaching assistance, newsletter distribution, open studio monitoring, marketing, and fundraising.
A Call to Community
The Drawing Studio Volunteer Program
For the past three years I have been coordinating OATS, the senior arts program. Besides organizing drawing classes for hundreds of seniors, I have had the privilege of providing training to and becoming friends with an amazing group of tutors. I have watched tutors grow as teachers and artists. The aspect of the Oats program that I am most proud of is the sense of community and belonging that we have created together.
Now I have taken on the challenge to create this sense of belonging with all the volunteer areas at TDS, from staffing the front desk to hosting exhibitions to putting on various special events. In another life, I coordinated a volunteer visiting program for homebound seniors in Oracle. Since I found it interesting and fun to visit with seniors, it was easy for me to invite, enlist and cajole volunteers to do the same.
I feel the same way about the value and fun of volunteering at TDS. Being in the office, I see what a huge difference it makes having someone at the front desk cheerfully fielding calls, answering questions, and welcoming visitors. As I’ve done with the OATS Program, I will provide volunteers with the training and information they need to be effective public representatives of TDS. I also plan to expand front desk training to include background on the current exhibitions (in yet another life, I also taught art history and art appreciation!).
My goal is to empower each volunteer, to learn where and what you like to do and create the opportunity for each of you to experience yourself as an integral part of this community that we are creating together at TDS.
If you are interested, please contact me at volunteers@thedrawingstudio.org or through the office. If you happen to visit the studio, you might find me lurking about inviting, cajoling or bribing you with chocolate to join us.
—Pat Dolan
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