I’m a freshman at [a small Northeast art college], and feminism is an extremely important part of my life, especially global reproductive rights issues. I want to use my resources and training at art school to bring these important issues to the attention of the public. Thing is, it seems really difficult to get involved unless I have a degree in women’s studies or health or law or whathaveyou. My class schedule prevents me from attending a lot of local policy events that occur during the week, as well.
What are some good ways to get my foot in the door volunteering? I’m in Boston, and the obvious places like Planned Parenthood have their pick of volunteers and usually go for older students with more related majors. I really have no older mentors to give me recommendations or guidance. What’s a young artist to do?
Suggestions?
If you are interested in putting in time online then I would definitely recommend projects such as Scarleteen and All Girl Army , which are in need of young volunteers
Talk to other artists? I’m thinking there are probably organizations for local artists or maybe, since you mentioned global issues, organizations that try and bring local and international artists together. See if there are ways to start conversations about the issues some of the female artists face in terms of reproductive health and reproductive choice getting in the way of their ability to work. Or if it informs their work. Maybe some of the male artists have taken the paths they have because of things that have happened to the women in their lives. And if the groups you find aren’t amenable to “Artists For Reproductive Justice”, then you can always start a group :-).
Volunteer for the EMA Fund! The Eastern Massachusetts Abortion Fund provides grants and financial counseling to women who can’t cover the full cost of their abortions. You pick shifts that fit with your schedule, about once every 7 weeks (more if you want), and you return the phone calls of women who have been referred by local clinics like Planned Parenthood. It’s an amazing way to connect directly to the women who are harmed most by anti-abortion policies, it’s fulfilling work, and it will connect you with an amazing network of feminists in your area, as well as to the larger struggle for abortion funding. There’s a training coming up in April. We’re also in the process of redesigning our website, and always looking for people who want to be involved in the admin side of things, such as designing posters. We’re also starting a new advocacy project, and will be looking for volunteers to be involved with that. Visit our site at http://www.nnaf.org/funds/ema or email us at emama@nnaf.org or ema.volunteer.coordinator@gmail.com.
This isn’t necessarily what you’re looking for as far as putting your artistic background to work, but a few places in the Boston area that always need volunteers are:
Greater Boston Food Bank http://www.gbfb.org/
Pine Street Inn – http://www.pinestreetinn.org/
I’ve also heard about:
Transition House – http://www.transitionhouse.org/aboutus.html
Volunteering as an extra set of hands at places like this, besides being a good thing to do in itself, will put you in contact with other local activists and groups that might need someone with your artistic background. You could try joining a group like Boston Cares which sort of farms volunteers out to various local organizations, never done it myself but I know they’re very active. Dana Farber Cancer Institute runs a lot of local anti-cancer fundraising events and they’re a wonderful organization. The local NPR and PBS stations also use volunteers for various events and pledge drives if you’re interested in that sort of thing. There’s a lot of options available if you want to try just diving into volunteering.
Hey, I’m a freshman at a small northeast art college as well. I know my school has a volunteer department, not sure about yours.
I’ve heard of artists doing community mural projects with at risk youth. I don’t know much about it though.
It’s not Repro-Rights related, but check out Rosie’s Place, a shelter for homeless women in Boston. They can always use more pairs of hands.
http://www.rosies.org/cultures/en-US/default.htm
I just went over and looked at Rosie’s place, and they have a women’s craft collective. Maybe your art skills would be helpful with that?
I would start with seeing if there is a local NOW chapter near you. Either in your school or in your community.
is the Cambridge Women’s Center still open? they were a great place to volunteer when i was a student in boston (99-01). they are pretty flexible.
The arts are a great place to connect your values with the public. I work as an art educator in museums and schools, and I often use the arts to talk with students about social justice issues like violence and gender. Art education isn’t just pinch pots and hand turkeys, people! There’s a lot of incredible, collaborative, progressive work out there.
Consider starting an after school art club for girls at a local middle school and teach them about craftivism, get involved with a gallery that does socially progressive work, go to a hospital and see if you can do art with patients, or, hey, go to a women’s clinic and see if you can paint a mural for them or improve the design of their printed material. Ask the community how you can serve it… and then listen to what it says. And of course, MAKE ART about the issues that concern you!
Try the community arts network for some resources in your area. Ask your art education department what they’ve got going on in terms of community arts. See if your art school offers any gender studies courses and brainstorm with the professor… (s)he will certainly be helpful. Start a club among fellow progressive art students. You’ll find some like-minded people.
Good luck!!
I would check out sexual assault centres, on or off campus. My university’s sexual assault centre organized (and still does organize) a yearly art exhibit that focuses on issues related to sexual assault.
Volunteer as an artist – help with poster campaigns, street theater events, whatever you are interested in. Going in with an idea for an event/project is great (if you’ve got the time and energy to help organize it) and so is just showing up and saying “I can do x, y and z. How can I put these skills to use and help you out?”
Also, look for smaller organizations that don’t have the volunteer drawing powers of big names like Planned Parenthood. There are tons of small groups that are in desperate need of volunteers. You might be able to find some these places through your local or campus women’s centre (or that of another near by university).
You might look into women’s health clinics that are unaffiliated with Planned Parenthood. I know that they need volunteers and are sometimes overlooked because they don’t have the name recognition of PP.
You could also check out (and I know this is gonna sound stupid) the Girl Scouts. Depending on the troop leader, they’re often very progressive organizations and do projects that involve feminist goals.
Ask your art professors. Normally professor’s don’t bite, so go on up and ask the ones you think are pretty cool if they volunteer somewhere or if they could suggest a good org who will put your art skills to use. AND you get to have a great conversation with a professor, who just might end up being a mentor.
I love the shelter idea…sometimes they might even need help with kids too. Crafting with kids is always fun. Discover the magic of felt and googlie eyes. :)
AND please be very specific about what you want to do. If you leave it too far open you could end up doing nothing but filing…of course, if that’s what you want to do, cool. But I’ve heard far too many volunteers & interns say “All I did was file!” Make sure the relationship is begun on a good solid footing.
Have fun and good luck!
I second the idea of checking out a woman’s center on campus. Because it is on campus they would be looking for student volunteers. Maybe you could do something with art, like poster campaign, etc as mentioned above. Maybe they need other types of help and it will get your foot in the door.
I’m also in Boston, and I know that there are plenty of groups looking and there are a lot of places that aren’t going to turn away volunteers. Are you okay doing stuff that isn’t art-related, or is that a must-have? PP has a great Wednesday night drop-in volunteer program (the application isn’t an accept/reject thing, it’s just to get your info). NARAL Pro-Choice MA ALWAYS needs volunteers–the stuff isn’t always art-related, but it does some good. They also hire campus organizers, so definitely look into that–and that doesn’t require a particular major. A lot of times, the best way is to be like any other volunteer and stuff envelopes, do data entry, join the e-mail lists, etc. Then when you’ve gotten to know the staff, indicate that you have a set of special skills that you’d like to put to use.
Hey, I’m in pretty much the same situation, but in the Midwest! I contacted the local YWCA to get involved there. They’re currently overhauling their volunteer program, but I’ hoping that soon I’ll be able to tutor the children of women who use their shelter, or work in their daycare program sometimes. They also have a program for working with pre-teens and teens that provides extracurricular activities while building their confidence and life skills, and providing them with strong female role models.
You should check out your local YWCA, if you have one. They always have a variety of programs that you can help out with.
Split your time. Become a regular volunteer at a local women’s/repro rights group of your choice. This will help you network and be engaged with the movement. In your other time, get your most rockin art friends together and start your own feminist/human rights/whatever arts collective, and host regular events and exhibitions in bars and cafes around town. You can use these events to raise money for great feminist causes and/or build a network of activists. If you can’t find what you want out there, create it!
Well, do they want to help, or do they want a Fulfilling Personal Experience? If they care about the organization, they want to be put where they can do the most immediate good, which in many cases…means filing. Or data entry. Or envelope stuffing. If volunteers and interns, who are usually the youngest team members with the least experience, don’t want to be put to work on the basic running of the office, how’s it going to get done?
Also, if you want to move on and up to positions of responsibility and decision-making doing the extra paperwork cheerfully is a great way to make everybody at the organization love you, and look at you first when an opening comes up.
the best volunteer experience i had was working at a women’s shelter. i basically just baby sat while the women went to group therapy sessions, but i got to connect w/ the kids (and actually had to learn sign language since i had a hearing impaired boy in my charge), and plan projects to occupy their time. they had it pretty rough when they had been at home, so a lot of them had trouble communicating at all, and we really bonded w/ arts and crafts. i know it isn’t the best way to showcase your talents, but for me, helping these kids feel comfortable in their environment was really fulfilling (and at the time i really didn’t want kids of my own). it was funny how gluing popsicle sticks together made the kids open up and start smiling again. it also was reassuring to the women that there was a constant person giving time to those kids, so they could relax long enough to benefit from the therapy programs they were in, and stop worrying about if their kids were OK.
I volunteer with a local 50+ women’s group teaching crafting. You have to adjust because some have difficulties with tools due to hand and eye problems but it is very fulfilling. In the rush to help children and younger women we often leave the older women isolated and ignored. Many of these women are living on fixed incomes and the projects make a real difference to their emotional well-being.
DOVE is a domestic violence shelter, the only one on the south shore, servicing 28 towns/cities. I just got involved in it, and they have training sessions coming up.
The Eastern Massachusetts Abortion Fund (EMA Fund) is an all-volunteer fund that helps women who can’t afford their abortions find ways to pay for them, both through financial counseling and by giving grants (we also do some fundraising to get the money to give the grants, of course.) Our volunteers return voicemails from women seeking assistance, and do most of their work from their homes or dorm rooms or offices, and our volunteer meetings are every other month – always at night or on the weekend, and always T-accessible. the commitment is generally about 5-10 hours every 4-8 weeks.
We have a training coming up April 10th & 12th – check us out! http://www.idealist.org/en/volunteeropportunity/107956-161
Since you just started school, you’re in a great position to make some change on your campus… Why not advocate to improve your school’s sexual assault prevention/response programs? For example, does your school provide free EC and STD prophylaxis for rape survivors in the health center? Is there a good, non-victim blaming sexual assault prevention program that focuses on changing male behavior and social norms? What happens to survivors if they report an assault at your school?
Check out Students Active For Ending Rape (SAFER) at http://www.safercampus.org for materials, training and consulting to help you organize on your campus. The experience of being a campus leader on these issues will be way more attractive to future employers than an experience filing in some back office.
The Boston Area Rape Crisis Center can always use vounteers, plus I’m guessing they can always use people to design posters, pamplets and help out with the Clothesline Project. If you’re not familiar, the clothelines project involves survivors of sex crimes (incest, rape etc) to decorate t-shirts with powerful statements. Certain color shirts represent a certain crime (for example one color is for child sex abuse, another color for aquaintance rape etc) The women’s center at BU set one up every year in center plaza on campus so as many people as possible can see the shirts in between classes. It’s pretty powerful stuff. I”m not quite sure if they specifically run the project or not http://www.barcc.org
Well speaking from personal experience I think Planned Parenthood will welcome volunteers from all backgrounds. I worked as a clinic escort while i was getting my masters in social work, but the other escorts were as diverse asyou can get, including an older married couple who had done various jobs for Planned parenthood in Boston since it began decades ago. I think they can always use people to help prepare mass mailings, answer phones or table at events like CollegeFest
Planned Parenthood is a wonderful cause, but what I found when I decided to volunteer, was that they have a HUGE base of support and more volunteers than they can use (at least in my area). I decided to volunteer as a patient escort at the local, privately owned, women’s reproductive health center (the Allentown Women’s Center in Pennsylvania). It attracts many, many more anti-choice protesters than the Planned Parenthood does, and lacks the resources that Planned Parenthood has to obtain volunteers.
Look online, check the phone book – I bet your local clinic could use your help!