Call For Volunteers: Help Create Giant Puppets For The PEN World Voices Festival

Processional Art Workshop's "Bibliobats"

This year's PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature, which runs from April 30 through May 6, features an amazing array of participants, including Salman Rushdie, Colson Whitehead, Margaret Atwood, Laurie Anderson and the Kronos Quartet. And guess what? You can join them.

The internationally acclaimed Processional Art Workshop, whose work you might have seen in the annual Village Halloween Parade, and the PEN American Center, the nonprofit organization that presents the annual literary festival, are looking for volunteers to help craft huge "bibliomorphic" puppets and other literature-inspired props. These "bibliomorphic" creations will be featured in the Parade of Illuminations, the festival's opening celebration at the High Line on April 30, as well as in ongoing performance throughout the week.

Want in? From April 21 through May 2 artists Alex Kahn and Sophia Michahelles will be leading workshops where volunteers can help "translate the sensual anatomy of bindings, folios, paper and print into bibliomorphic puppets and performing objects." All you have to do is fill out the volunteer form. No experience is necessary, and kids ages 10+ can help out as well if accompanied by an adult.

Below is the full schedule of workshops, which all take place at the Westbeth Center for the Arts. We can't wait to see the amazing puppets that you help create:

• Saturday, April 21: Noon–6pm
• Sunday, April 22: Noon–6pm
• Wednesday, April 25: 2–8pm
• Thursday, April 26: 2–8pm
• Friday, April 27: 2–8pm
• Saturday, April 28: Noon–6pm
• Sunday, April 29: Noon–6pm
• Tuesday, May 1: 2–8pm
• Wednesday, May 2: 2–8pm

-- John Ruscher

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY // Be Part of the 2011 DUMBO Arts Festival

 

The DUMBO Arts Festival is Brooklyn's biggest annual arts event, bringing together 200,000 visitors, more than 500 artists, 100 studios, 50 galleries and stages, 100 programming partners...and, if you'd like: you.

This year's festival runs from Friday, September 23 through Sunday, September 25, and organizers are looking for volunteers to help out both before and during the event:

This year we are searching for volunteers who can devote some of their time between Friday, September 16th and Thursday, September 22nd, as well as, the three days of the Festival itself.

The activities you might engage in include assisting exhibiting artists with installation of their works, guiding attendees through and between the various exhibits, lending a hand at one of our performance stages, or helping the next generation of artists at our children’s creation station.

They are also looking for a few volunteers who can start working on specific projects early on in September.

Meet some new folks, hang with some of the city's premiere artists and see some mind-blowing work -- in other words: Go fill out the volunteer form now.

After the jump check out a video of highlights from last year's DUMBO Arts Festival.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY // Make Something + Make a Difference with The Future Project

Do you care about the future? Of course you do. Otherwise you probably wouldn't be reading this. Well, how about applying your creative skills to actively helping the next generation discover their interests and talents?

Do just that by volunteering as a Future Coach for The Future Project, a new national movement that's shaking up the traditional education paradigm by bringing together high school students and artists, makers and idea-generators of all types.

Each Future Coach is paired with one high school student, a Future Fellow, and coaches and fellows meet in groups for 90 minutes each week to collaborate on projects based on something that they care about. "The idea is that maybe school wouldn't be so boring if students, even low-income students, were given the opportunity to create projects they care about," says Ian Temple, The Future Project's Chief Operating Officer. 

Coaches and fellows work on a project that excites them for an entire school, building leadership and self-expression skills and having fun and inspiring each other in the process.

Interested? Act now. The application deadline for becoming a Future Coach (July 31) is less than a week away!

Watch a video about The Future Project after the jump.

The Williamsburg Gallery Association Needs Volunteers!

 

 

The Williamsburg Gallery Association is looking for a few volunteers to help get the word out for Armory Weekend about Brooklyn Armory Night! 

Saturday, March 6^th is the Williamsburg Armory Night. Galleries will be open until 10pm & have special programming, including music and performance.   

The WGA is also launching the WGA RAW Mag, the definitive guide the Williamsburg / Bushwick / Greenpoint galleries. The WGA will be hosting an afterparty at The Hope Lounge (10 Hope Street, at Havermeyer) to celebrate both events.

To volunteer and support these events for a few hours on Saturday, March 6th in exchange for some fabulous perks, please email Drew at Drew.Catlin@gmail.com