Find our how to volunteer to work with us on 4600 gifts here.
Or, to book your place to make a gift at one of our workshops, click here to find our the upcoming dates and venues.
We are now inviting applications from volunteers to join a team of arts professionals in delivering a city wide arts event in Birmingham.
In 2022 Craftspace is engaging in a large-scale creative programme that celebrates our regions rich cultural identity. 4600 Gifts is a unique and ambitious project, making crafted gifts to welcome athletes to Birmingham this summer from around the world.
Residents from across the city will be invited to community crafting events and take part in making these personalised gifts, reflecting Birmingham as a city of diverse skills, cultures and stories. 4600 Gifts will exemplify a model that taps into social making and meaningful exchange between maker and recipient, one that locates craft within a form of ‘commoning’, activating the power of grassroots making and social cooperation. By joining our team you will be supporting this extraordinary project, to place gifts and messages of welcome – made by the people of Birmingham – into the hands of every visiting athlete.
Craftspace is leading this project, and a team of artists and designers: Laura Nyahuye, Pottinger & Cole, Mahawa Keita and Kalandra McFarquhar have created a ‘gift’ that can be made by the people of Birmingham through a series of workshops that will harness peoples making skills. The project will reveal that everyone has gifts to give, which will be captured through messages gathered from people participating in workshops. Re-inventing the idea of Birmingham as the ‘workshop of the world’, the project is resourceful, and demonstrates the power of making to build community.
Becoming a Volunteer
When: Opportunities to volunteer in Team 1 March – (mid) May and Team 2 in (mid) May – July, from 4 hours a week plus or one off days at larger scale events.
Where: at locations across Birmingham
What: roles include creative connectors facilitating workshops, creative planners preparing for workshops, social media ambassadors and audio/visual documenters. More details can be found in the application pack.
As well as having the rare opportunity to create one of these personalised gifts you will gain experience of working in a team within an established arts charity, in particular where professional arts practice engages communities in collective creative activities. You will have the opportunity to work alongside professional practitioners who are committed to creativity and its role in building positive relationships, messages and experiences. You will gain knowledge, skills and experience that will contribute to your personal and professional development and through the process you will meet other people working to achieve our outcomes of 4600 Gifts made and given!
Committing time to this project will give you a unique opportunity to be part of this ambitious project, which will place a gift, made by the people of Birmingham, into the hand of every athlete.
Please refer to the Volunteering Opportunities application pack for more details about the different roles and requirements, which is available for download below. Applications must be made using the application form below.
The deadline for receipt of applications has now been extended. Informal online interviews will be held – see application pack for details
Please send application forms by email to: [email protected].
Please complete Equal Opportunities form via this link.
If you have any questions regarding this role please send them by email to [email protected] in the first instance and we will respond as quickly as possible.