Volunteer

Our Volunteer Program:

ArtsWest values all volunteers not just for the role they play, but for all that makes them who they are.  We recognize that identity contains multitudes and is fluid, intersectional, and of vital importance.

As a historically white-led organization, ArtsWest is committed to operating as an anti-racist institution throughout all of its operations.  You can read more about our anti-racist commitments here.

We seek to find individuals to volunteer that are dedicated to the mission of this organization and who center anti-racist and anti-oppressive values.  Individuals who understand the privilege and the responsibility that we have when we volunteer to assist others, in experiencing the stories and community of ArtsWest.

It is vital to all of us that not only do we fit our volunteer’s needs, but that our volunteers feel they are a good fit for our theater.

As a theater community, our Board, Staff, and Volunteers will be offered free, online, self-guided anti-racist training.  To be a good fit for us as a volunteer, an understanding of the need for shared anti-oppressive vocabulary and skills, such as bystander training, that assist us in our quest to be an equitable theater, will be important.   All volunteers are required to complete self-guided anti-racist training, that takes approximately 90 minutes and can be completed in small bites, before being invited to join us.

Next Steps:

If after exploring our website, reading our anti-racist commitments and recognizing yourself as someone who wants to be part of our community, the next step is to email our Box Office and Volunteer Manager Rachel Ewen at rachele@artswest.org.  Rachel will then send to you our volunteer forms to complete and a link to our anti-racist training.

Our forms allow us to find out more about your needs, the roles for which you would like to volunteer, and provide us with emergency contact information.  We will also undertake a WA State Background check to ensure our collective safety.

We hope you find our anti-racist training as informative and relevant as we do.  Please also know that Rachel can help you at any step of the journey, completing forms with you or guiding you on how to access the training.

Once the forms are sent back to us, background check done, and anti-racist training completed, you will be invited to sign up to usher through a sign-up genius link.  If your volunteer interests run outside of ushering, you will be contacted directly by one of our staff.

For Our Past Volunteers:

As we work to re-open our theater coming back from this long intermission, we are updating our volunteer program taking into consideration all the things we have learned as our industry and community need to do better to provide equitable spaces where everyone can be safe and be their authentic self.

To ensure that we are meeting these values, we are requesting two things from you.  First, even though you may have completed paperwork sometime in the past, we need you to update your information.  For some of you we have non-functioning emails, for others we are missing emergency contact information, and for most of you we have not asked how best we can meet your access needs.

Second, as our leadership and organization have committed to ensuring that we hold a common vocabulary and set of values around anti-racist and anti-oppressive values, we ask that you join with us in undertaking anti-racist training.  Please email Rachel Ewen at rachele@artswest.org to receive new forms and the training link.  If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to reach out to our Interim Managing Director, Kayti Barnett-O’Brien at kaytib@artswest.org.