The City Reliquary is a small, homegrown organization that depends on a volunteer staff to make our magic happen.  Our baseline commitment for volunteers is 6 hours/month, which can be split into two 3-hour shifts.

All volunteers will undergo an organizational orientation and receive appropriate training for specialized tasks, and all volunteers must be 18 years of age or older.

Our current needs include:

Museum Docents

Museum docents staff the City Reliquary during its public hours, Thursday through Sunday, from 12pm – 6pm.  They greet visitors, explain the museum’s mission, and introduce them to the collections and exhibits.

Docents also staff the museum’s Dimestore, a gift shop featuring locally made goods.  They ring up purchases, process cash or credit card payments, and maintain receipts.

Responsibilities

• Opening or closing the City Reliquary for public hours
• Greeting visitors and explaining the City Reliquary’s mission
• Handling museum admissions and donations
• Processing purchases from the Dimestore
• Orienting visitors to the permanent collection and rotating exhibits
• Interpreting select objects within the collection; telling funny, sad, interesting, bawdy, unknown stories; hearing more of the same
• Special projects as assigned to volunteer interests and skills

Events Staff

Events staff support a variety of public programs and special events in the Reliquary’s rotating exhibition space and, when weather allows, our backyard space.  Events staff primarily support a variety of day-of logistical and technical needs, but we welcome volunteers who have an interest or experience in curating and producing programs.

Responsibilities

• Setting up and/or breaking down public programs and special events
• Greeting event attendees; playing host or hostess
• Handling event admissions and donations
• For ticketed events, checking tickets or guest lists
• Assisting with A/V setup
• Managing concession sales/donations

Special Project Leads

Experienced volunteers and professionals may apply to become project leads on a variety of special projects.  While we’ve outlined some needs below, we welcome proposals and ideas—if you have a special skill that you would like to share with us, please let us know.

Current Projects:

• IT support
• Graphic design (print or web)
• Communications
• Fundraising
• Collections management
• Program development
• Landscaping
• Art installation
• Photography (events or studio)
• ??? (seriously, you tell us)

Volunteer Qualifications

• Friendly, outgoing manner; experience working with the public
• Passion for New York City history and folklore
• For special projects, experience or expertise in project area
• Interest in museum administration preferred
• A sense of humor (nonnegotiable)

Email vollies@cityreliquary.org with your preferences and availability, and we’ll be in touch to set up an interview.  Thanks for your interest in being civic!