Culture House Volunteeer

The Culture House (CH) is a bold new community-initiative which will make the heritage landscape of the UK more diverse and inclusive. It will tell the story of the British Somali, East African and Black communities who have put down roots in the UK over the past decades but remain on the fringes of the national cultural consciousness. The core activity of CH is to preserve tangible and intangible Somali cultural assets and present them to diverse publics, in the community’s authentic voice. By doing this, it will illuminate their complex and varied experiences and their evolving multi-layered identities, exploring and revealing narratives of origin, displacement, migration, and adaptation.

CH has five components: 

1. Heritage displays and exhibitions: Culture House has a large collection of heritage items, e.g., paintings, sculptures, traditional and contemporary household artefacts, working implements, ornaments, clothing, and books from and about black communities and artefacts will be expertly preserved to withstand the rigours of life as display items. 

2. Resource space: This space will hold resources on Somali heritage, e.g. books, leaflets, stamps, posters depicting facets of Somali heritage and culture. 

3. Learning space: We will offer heritage lectures, demonstrations, workshops, readings (poetry/ prose), oral history presentations etc. 

4. Archive: Culture House has more artefacts in its collection than it can display at one time. Non-displayed items will be preserved and stored in a physical archive. 

5. Online platform: This will help expand reach significantly and make the heritage offering accessible to a wider public across the UK and beyond, including those who cannot physically travel to us. 

Role Overview
Culture House is looking for a highly motivated, creative, and dynamic individual to join our team, and help support our ambition to provide people of all ages with the opportunity to participate in high quality Somali and black culture, heritage, and arts activities, displays and exhibitions in London. We are seeking an individual that will assist the Culture House team by providing effective administrative support, relaying key information to visitors of current exhibitions and confidently supervising visiting tour groups. The successful candidate will be comfortable meeting and engaging with a wide range of audiences to support the daily running of Culture House and be able to answer any enquiries in a helpful and friendly manner. They will use their passion for arts and heritage to promote the learning and understanding of Culture House’s exhibitions, displays and events to clients.

Keys Tasks and Responsibilities

• Work with Culture House to raise awareness of Somali/ East African culture and increase participation in Culture House programmes.
• Assist the Anti-Tribalism Movement to provide effective and efficient administrative support across different functions of Anti-Tribalism Movement to efficiently run Culture House.
• Support the Learning Officer in running tour groups at Culture House for young people and adults of all ages and abilities, many of whom may have little or no previous experience of arts. 
• Liaise with the Learning Officer and Operations Director to deliver of future events and programmes at Culture House
• Contribute to the planning of events, exhibitions and learning activities
• Be a point of contact for incoming enquiries through telephone and general emails. 
• Ensure client enquiries are handled in a professional and timely manner.
• Work in close collaboration with culture House team to continually improve clients' experiences
• Maintain confidentiality and privacy in matters relating to the team, procedures, financial details and security. 
• Become familiar with and then always following the Culture House Safety Policy 
• To act always in the best interest of the Culture House  
• Any other duties as reasonably required. 

As an organisation Culture House will:

• Give you the opportunity to develop new and existing skills and gain experience volunteering in a charity 
• Provide a full induction and training for volunteer role to introduce you to how the organisation works and your role in it 
• Refund reasonable travel and lunch expenses (Please note receipts must be provided) 
• Provide a named person who will meet with you regularly to support you in your role by regular meetings with your assigned person who will provide informal feedback 
• Explain the standards we expect; to encourage and support you to achieve and maintain them 
• Be flexible in relation to your volunteering hours, recognising your need for holiday time and other commitment 
• Honour the time commitment, you have agreed to give us and not to expect more from you unless offered and agreed 
• Provide a reference 
• Provide adequate training and ensure you know what to do to stay safe, in accordance with our Health and Safety policy 
• Try to fairly resolve any issues or difficulties you may have whilst volunteering before they become problems. In the events of unresolved problems, to offer an opportunity to discuss the issue in accordance with the problem-solving policy 
• Following up on any feedback or questions you may have regarding your involvement as a volunteer.

Application Deadline: 15th February 2025