Supporting Older People Who Volunteer in the Museum and Heritage Sector: A symposium to share experiences and consider best practice
Volunteering is a way for retirement-age adults to be a part
of a community, to make new friendships with like-minded people, and to give
back to organisations that resonate with their values and interests.
Older adults bring a wealth of skills and life experience to
the heritage sector. They have unique links to sites, objects and gallery stories. A diverse
volunteer group in a museum can help attract a local audience and older adults
can be excellent mentors to newer volunteers.
Museum and heritage
volunteers often dedicate years of their lives volunteering, building up a
plethora of knowledge and facilitating a vibrant social and informative share
with fellow volunteers and many visitors. They build relationships with
visitors and staff and are a valued part of any museum. Many museums are
volunteer-run and depend on regular, skilled volunteer input to operate.
As our
volunteers age with the museum, what can we do to support them? What challenges
do they face? If a health or wellbeing issue creates a barrier to volunteering,
what accommodations can we make within the heritage and museum sector?
If you work
with or support older adults to volunteer, or would like to find out more, join
us for a symposium with museum volunteering managers, health sector professionals,
colleagues from museums development organisations and older volunteers
themselves to discuss strategies and best practice in the sector for supporting
older age volunteers.
Programme
for the day: 9:30am –
4pm (lunch provided)
Morning session:
Welcome and Introduction: Yla Barrie, Volunteer and
Placement Coordinator, Glasgow Museums.
The contribution of older volunteers to the museums sector: Tamsin
Russell, Workforce Development Officer, Museums Association.
Research overview: The Impact on Older People’s
Wellbeing of Leaving Heritage Volunteering and the Challenges of Managing this
Process Bruce Davenport, Newcastle University.
Volunteering after retirement age, an insight from museum volunteers.
Afternoon
session:
A facilitated
session addressing the 3 key areas as decided by symposium attendees.
If you would
like to attend this FREE symposium, please email museumsvolunteering@glasgowlife.org.uk