Volunteer

Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) volunteers have the opportunity to learn about the workings of a history museum and contribute valuable services to a nonprofit organization. We accept applications at all times and keep those we don’t contact immediately on a waiting list to be reconsidered when more positions become available.

Your application should include your contact information, availability, previous volunteer and professional experience, and a personal statement addressing why you wish to volunteer at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, and what interests, skills and experiences you would bring to the position.

Below are the descriptions of available volunteer opportunities at this time (also available at Idealist and VolunteerMatch):

Long-Term Positions

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Design maps, flyers, calendars, zines, brochures etc.

1. 1. Make a map of all the community gardens in a specific location or borough (for example Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx). Print them, laminate them and zip tie them to each garden.

   2. Making a sign for the community gardens: “This community garden was started by volunteers and in 1999 the city announced it was going to destroy all the community gardens. Activists rose up and saved these amazing gardens. Please join one in your neighborhood.”

COMMUNITY GARDEN COORDINATOR

Help to organize all events in gardens, including weekend volunteer garden green-ups. Should have some gardening skills and weekend availability. Director will introduce you to each garden and help you with volunteer green-up days.

VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR

Work with the director to seek out new and existing volunteers, and help get them started on projects, campaigns, events, bike rides, etc. Answering volunteer emails and promotions, organizing volunteer picnics and parties. Creating email lists for different categories of the volunteers (we already have the emails, we just need to organize them). Must have good people skills.

FUNDRAISING COORDINATOR

This is the most important issue right now. We have spaces, volunteers, campaigns, and events fully up and running, but we don’t have enough funding to continue our successful programming. If anybody can help in any way, that would be amazing. There are thousands of different ways to fundraise, especially online. Organize fundraising meetings, and make a schedule with different fundraising opportunities. Organizing grant writing and online fundraising, etc.

SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR

Figure out how to increase our following on all our social media pages. Consistently post content. Add more stuff to facebook, instagram, Twitter, and TikTok profiles. Always hashtag and share.

MAP & ZINE COORDINATOR

Take inventory of existing zines, make new maps and zines, printing and assembling existing zines, helping organize zine events and zine fairs, etc.

PRESS COORDINATOR

Build relationships with press contacts, maintaining and adding new contacts to our press list. Promote our events, workshops, and exhibits etc. Write articles with pictures.

PHOTO & VIDEO DOCUMENTARIAN

Take pictures and/or video at events and workshops. Capture key moments in our community’s history. Images should be archived and stored on our Flickr and YouTube pages.

ARCHIVES

Currently we are working on three major projects with archiving: printed material (which needs to be scanned), videotapes (which needs to be digitized), and color slides (which need to be digitized). We also have boxes of color slides that need to be sorted to determine their archiving value.

EXHIBIT INSTALLATION & MAINTENANCE

A lot of our exhibits come up and down, and lately we’ve been doing pop-up exhibits in the larger backspace of the museum. These exhibits constantly need maintenance, including reprinting, relabeling, and painting.

MEMBERSHIP COORDINATOR

Members are fundamental for the ongoing efforts of MoRUS and Time’s Up. Both groups have a membership component and people can become members at our locations or on our websites. This would involve you going to our spaces and helping to come up with systems to create more members through personal contact, sign up sheets, electronic devices, etc. You would also be involved in creating members only events. “Technically” everybody who comes to our events, bike rides or bike co-op should be a member.

MUSEUM’S ANNUAL FILM FESTIVAL

• We are currently working on a film festival to be held in September. The theme is Everything Adds Up, and this year’s films will highlight urban grassroots environmental change resulting from years of community organizing, direct action and education that has led to creating a more sustainable city and aided in combating the larger climate change issue.

• Some tasks that need to be worked on:

  • Organizing the existing films

  • Researching other orgs and existing films

  • Making short films like last year

  • Press and promotions and designing posters/tshirts/calendars/ etc.

TOMPKINS SQUARE PARK REDESIGN COMPETITION

MoRUS is working with Pratt, NYU, The New School, and Parsons School of Design. Students will be given the opportunity by their teachers to participate in our design competition which will be displayed at MoRUS. There will also be other components of this project that will be putting pressure on the city to redesign Tompkins Square Park into the vibrant community space that it once was, which will encourage the free exchange of art, theater, music, as well as promote activism and free assembly.