Topic for Working Group C - Involving people
Tips and tricks how to get the people involved – volunteers. How can you get the people involved –both volunteers and employed? How can you make people enthusiastic and particapatory? Should there be rewards for voluntary work? Can we find new ways of employing people? How do you you involve the community, the neighbours and the people in your surroundings? Is it necessary for a culture centre to develop into a more professional structure? Is it inevitable?
Members:
NATASA SEREC (Metelkova) Group leader
MARION PIKE (MAIDEN LANE COMMUNITY CENTRE)
GERARD LOHUIS (P60)
NICK THOMPSON (JUNCTION)
MATEJA ZOBARIC (METELKOVA)
BETTINA GEILE (SCHLACHTHOF)
ELLEN ARKANDER (MEJERIET) (to the left) + ANNA STORÅKERS (MEJERIET)
MARTINA DACEJOVA (STANICA)
KATARINA ZIVANOVIC (REX)
LAURA GOEGAN (BUENVENTURA)
EMMANUELLE DEJAIFFE (HALLES DE SCHAERBEEK)
ELISA GIOLO (BUENVENTURA - VENICE-GROUP)
UGO BACCHELLA (FONDAZIONE FITZCARRALDO)
NATASA BERTALANIC (METELKOVA)
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Background information on behalf of Buenaventura for this Working Group
Buenaventura in Castelfranco Veneto (30.000 inh.), Northern Italy, has existed for 5 years and currently experiences a phase of transition. We are completely self-financed and do not receive any public support.
When we went inside this building for the first time five years ago we weren't that many people. We thought that after a few years the number of people active in the Buenaventura would have increased radically, but now, after 5-in 2007, many years the Buenaventura still do not have more than maybe 40 active volunteers (out of 4000 members). Some people might say that 40 people is still a lot, but we are sure that many more people could get great experiences from being an active volunteer in the Buenaventura. The space is here, the rooms are open for all sorts of activities, and we are sure that many people, being given the right information, could enjoy and benefit from coming here and realise their ideas.
Not all people involved in the Buenaventura are 100% volunteers. These are the people payed (all not formally):
- Bartenders: all people working in the bar are paid (not much really, 5.20 euro an hour, it's the lowest money you can earn as a waiter in a common bar in Castelfranco, but the work is in average less heavier than a normal waiter job). Bartenders, as volunteer, organise the bar, do the shopping for it, do a hard cleaning every Saturday afternoon. On weekdays we have one bartender (from 19 to average 2 o'clock at night). Friday and Saturday 2 bartenders together (from 19 to average 3 o'clock at night). The bar is closed daytime (since the Buena is almost empty).
- Teachers in courses (max 25 euro/hour). Current coursers are: tango, english, juggling, computer science, theatre. Teachers have to be voluntarly involved in administration/secretary/infoline of their course.
- Cleaning. We can count on a person that, for a total of 6/7 hours a week, cleans the buenaventura. That means almost 2 days a week... so, you can say that the buenaventura on 2 out of 7 days a week is cleaned by a non-volunteer. (paid 7 euro/hour). Since we started the preparation of the TEH-meeting we've raised the hours a week for this role from 6/7 to 9/10 a week.
- Musicians/bands. When a band play here we give all income from tickets to them. The band choose the ticket price. The Buenaventura keeps the income from the bar and from membership cards. (a mem. card cost 6 euro/year... less if is payed together with a concert/ticket: normally a ticket is 2 euro, if you buy tiket+membership card you pay 7 instead of 8 euro).
- A special case is people living in the Buenaventura (we've an apartment on the last floor, I'm living there too, since the first day we rented the Buenaventura). These are the so called "inquilini" (tenants). These people are normally referred to as volunteers, too, but they do not pay rent and expenses... so, they are actually payed indirectly. The agreement is: people living in the so called "appartamento" (apartment) has to work for the Buena at least an average of 3 hours per day, plus they are supposed to do their volunteer work like all the others. We can say that an inquilino save some 400/500 euro a month living here (that means: rent, electricity, winter heating, water, garbage, internet, furniture, and a lot of food that he/she gets in the Buenaventura for free).
- Then there are the EVS volunteers (till now 1 at a time; 2 at a time beginning with next march). They receive 300 euro a month from the EU and, since they live in the buenaventura, do not pay lodging expenses like tenants. There is also one national civil service volunteer (1): she receives 400 euros/months and has to work 25/hours a week (does not live in the Buenaventura).
Some of our questions:
- How can you reward your volunteers so that we can show them that we truly appreciate the time and effort they put in to being a volunteer?
- Is fringe benefits a good idea, i.e. letting volunteers get in for free to all concerts, having them pay half price in the bar etc? How do you avoid envy between volunteers that don't work for nearly the same amount of time and still receive the same benefits?
- How do you avoid a big turn over of volunteers, i.e. how do you "keep" your volunteers in order to establish some continuity in your activities and programme? How do you avoid that a person comes in and works really hard and dedicates all his/her time and effort for a short amount of time and then becomes exhausted?
- When we meet a person that could be a potential volunteer, what is the first thing we should say to this person to make it attractive to come her and realise your ideas and/or projects?
Instructions on how to use the mailing list
Proposal of time plan before the meeting
Concept for Buenaventura meeting presented at the Berlin-TEH meeting
General tendencies in Italy by Elena di Stefano, from La Citta' del Teatro
Mailing list archive for this working group (you need a password: please ask the group leader, or read the bottom lines of each email sent within the mailing list)