Have fun and learn at Culture Days

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This article was published 05/09/2017 (2965 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Culture Days Manitoba organizers are looking for volunteers to assist with the 400 free events they have planned for the last weekend in September.

Culture Days is a national weekend full of free events with the goal of raising awareness — while increasing accessibility, participation and engagement — of Canadians in the cultural life of their communities.

The eighth-annual Culture Days Manitoba weekend takes place from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1 and includes Nuit Blanche, a dusk-to-dawn celebration of the arts, on Sept. 30.

This is the second year that Culture Days and Nuit Blanche are calling for volunteers, festival volunteer co-ordinator Michelle Rosner said.

“What we’ve found, even just being in our second year, is that people are excited about Culture Days and especially Nuit Blanche,” Rosner said. “They really want to help in any way that they can.”

Volunteers are needed to help provide program guides, maps and other information to attendees.

Other volunteer roles include helping attendees navigate the art installations, assisting artists and venues, setting up and tearing down before and after the festival, then ensuring that the event remains both environmentally friendly and safe for attendees.

Volunteer photographers also are needed to capture the event for the festival’s website, social media and printed materials.

Rosner, herself a volunteer, got involved with Culture Days because she loves the arts in Winnipeg.

The city’s artistic community is rich and diverse, Rosner said, and she enjoys learning about it through Culture Days.

“I love being involved and learning more about established organizations like the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, but learning about independent artists is also really exciting,” Rosner said.

“That’s what Culture Days does: it brings all those communities together and allows everyone to have accessibility to all different forms of art.”

For Rosner, a high-school teacher, seeing people who attend the festival get excited about Winnipeg — and specifically its downtown — is exciting.

“A lot of my students volunteer, and it’s fun to see them come downtown for maybe the first time,” she said. “It’s really an eye-opener for a lot of people, that we have incredible artists and incredible organizations and incredible collaborations.”

Anyone interested in volunteering for Culture Days and Nuit Blanche can apply online at mb.culturedays.ca.

Once people have signed up to volunteer, they will be asked to attend a volunteer orientation later this month at Little Brown Jug Brewing on William Avenue.

At the orientation, volunteers will learn about the festival and their positions, and receive a package of perks that includes a T-shirt, Bronuts gift card and more.

The festival gives attendees the opportunity to engage in what is happening in Winnipeg’s arts community, sometimes for the first time in their lives. Rosner sees facilitating that as both a pleasure and a privilege.

“People are opening their doors to the public and encouraging them to come and learn and see what’s happening,” Rosner said.

“You hear people say things like, ‘I wish it could be like this every day,’ because it’s fun and creative and interesting,” she added. “It’s like Christmas.”

If you know a special volunteer, please contact aaron.epp@gmail.com.