Calling all art altruists
Your ticket inside: Mega museum conference solicits Houston volunteers, offeringsession access
The 2011 American Association of Museum Annual Meeting and MuseumExpo lands in Houston on May 22 through 25, bringing with it 5,000 museum professionals from 55 countries. Locals have a chance to get in on the museum glamour by offering to fill nearly 600 volunteer shifts.
This isn't your average dreary community service. Volunteer positions include session monitors, office assistants, registration assistants, hospitality lounge assistants and greeters at the George R. Brown Convention Center. For the local culture aficionado, AAM represents the chance to strut Houston's stuff.
Best of all? Volunteers are granted access to the conference's inspired sessions, allowing an inside look into what happens behind the doors of the world's top museum corridors.
Registration is officially open, with orientation taking place on Thursday, May 19, from 4 to 6 p.m. Those one-day passes are bestowed for every four-hour block of volunteering. Head to aamhouston.org to register.
Before AAM kicks off, however, the Art Car Parade hits the streets on Sunday, May 22. Enlist in the city's most iconic public art event at a volunteer recruitment party from 7 to 8 p.m Wednesday night., followed by a wild evening of bingo. Swag includes a commemorative T-shirt and free admission to all Art Car events.
Craving to get your volunteer on even earlier? Get yourself to IKEA this Saturday for a sofa painting party with the city's top emerging artists as they create comfy couch art for Art Car Parade watching. Righteousness has never been so artful.
