“As a regular volunteer, I get to try all the activities at the gallery. Therefore, I am lucky enough to try different roles all the time.

On Saturdays, I volunteer for Outdoor Art Club and my duties are assisting the artist with the setup and tidy up. It’s a Forest School inspired activity which we do outside in the garden, and it includes water play, mud painting, construction equipment and nature play. We have different themes and set-ups each week so I never get bored or feel like I am doing the same thing every week!

On Mondays, I volunteer for Art Baby and my duties usually include working together with everyone from welcoming children and adults into space and facilitating their play. I help keep the area and equipment tidy throughout the session, assist the artist with set up of the activities and space, with the evaluation of the sessions, taking photographs of the space and asking for photo consent from families and collecting evaluation in the form of a sketchbook and writing findings onto the blog.

Working with Early Years Coordinator in the ideas and planning of the sessions really help me to feel confident about what I am doing. Staff members give us chances in meetings to share or try new ideas if we want to.

Tuesdays I volunteer in a Primary School with the gallery staff and my role is usually to translate for parents who have language barriers and helping the artist with setup.

On Thursdays, I volunteer and participate in Whitworth Young Contemporaries. My role includes helping the artists and staff members throughout the session; however, I am always encouraged to participate and enjoy equally with other young people.

I volunteer for Feel Good Kid’s Art Club which is a mindfulness session for children, as a volunteer my role is to help out the artist throughout the session – I love seeing how the children engage in this session.

Besides that, I get to participate in training and a lot of events. I have already been part of  two training workshops in such a short time and so many events throughout the year.

As a volunteer, I get to do so much and meet so many amazing people too.

When I decided to become a volunteer, my aim was to give back to the community but now when I look back, I realise I got so much more than what I gave.

My favourite thing about volunteering is that it’s very flexible, staff and volunteers helping each other all the time, staff members are always there to make sure we are ok and enjoying our shift. I get endless support from staff, artists and even other volunteers to improve my skills and that’s the reason why I have learned so much in such a short period of time.”

Post by Maira Rabnawaz, Whitworth Volunteer.

Thanks to Maira for her excellent post about her volunteering experiences at the Whitworth. We love having her around the gallery and have missed her over the last 6 months!

If you are interested in volunteering at the Whitworth you can register your interest via our Volunteer Website.

Once you’ve registered we will be in touch with any suitable roles coming up in the future. Any questions in the meantime please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Fiona Cariss, Volunteer Manager. fiona.cariss@manchester.ac.uk 07554 778269