HOW TO PARTICIPATE: VOLUNTEERS

I can’t remember when volunteer work has been so immediately rewarding. The time ACNY needed was not huge and the people from ACNY were great to work with. This volunteer experience has been a triple hit: good art to look at while you’re working, great people to work with and, best of all, an immediate, positive and obvious impact. It doesn’t get much better than that!

—Julia D., Volunteer

Art Connect New York’s Vision

ACNY believes art and arts professionals have a unique ability to interpret the world, connect people, and inspire insight into ourselves and the world around us. We harness the transformative power of art to affirm the human spirit and make New York a welcoming, expansive city.

We create professionally curated, themed collections of donated, original art for New York’s social service agencies and  nonprofit organizations.  These collections are permanently installed in the offices and facilities of the agency or organization.

ACNY doesn’t limit its linkages to artists, curators and social service agencies. We include as many New Yorkers as possible in our projects. Our ultimate goal is to see art truly connect New York and New Yorkers.

ACNY is young and growing. The more people involved, the more placements we can do and the more connections we can make.

Volunteering

On a day-to-day basis, ACNY needs help making placements happen quickly and smoothly. You have your choice of activities in which to participate:

  • Picking up and delivering artwork —most artwork needs to move at least twice: first from the artist’s studio to the framer, and then from the framer to the receiving agency. Most pieces are relatively light-weight and small, so are easy to carry.  In all cases, they must be handled with care. We’ll assign you according to your times available, the work we need moved and the schedule for installation.
  • Installing artwork at social service agencies — one of the great joys for Art Connects New York is when we actually go into an agency and install the work on their walls. It’s an opportunity to witness a happy transformation — and one that always draws comments of amazement and delight from agency staff and clients. Installation requires working as part of a team that decides where each piece will hang and then goes about actually attaching the pieces to the walls.
  • Inputting data into our various databases ACNY maintains a series of databases to catalog work available for donation, donating artists, receiving organizations and contributors. We always can use help transforming incoming information into useful data.
  • Researching social service agencies — we want to be sure we find and work with all types of social service agencies throughout the five boroughs. It’s a tall order, that requires on-line and/or in-person research to identify qualifying.
  • Fundraising —is always a challenge for new organizations.  We can use help researching potential funders, writing grant proposals and preparing proposal materials.
  • Other Ideas. Try as we might to identify all the types of help we need, we’re always finding new, interesting things that need doing.

To volunteer, give us a call at 646.546.5334.  We would also appreciate it if you would download and complete our Volunteer Form , which you can either:

  • Email it to us at vol_don@artconnectsnewyork.org, or
  • Send it by US Mail —Print out the Volunteer Form and mail it along with enclosures to:

    Art Connects New York
    Attention: Volunteer Database
    491 Broadway, 5th Floor
    New York, New York 10012

Your gift of time is tremendously valuable — and a great way to connect with New York.
Thank you!