Volunteer Opportunities
After checking out the volunteer opportunies below, share your interest with us by filling out the short form at the bottom of the page and click send! It's that easy.
Laboratory of Anthropology Library Annual Book Sale Fundraiser:
Native Treasures Indian Arts Festival:
Memorial Day Weekend: Help is needed for all days, all shifts and all types of jobs
Native Treasures: Indian Arts Festival benefits the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. Each artist generously donates a portion of sales to the Museum’s programs. So you can support your favorite artists and the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture at the same time! http://nativetreasures.org/
Regular Volunteer needs:
Education:
The Living Traditions Educational Program provides the opportunity for volunteers and docents to assist in the school tour program through preparation of curriculum and materials as well as hands-on activities during tours. Docents are trained to guide students through the museum exhibits, providing unique tours to the youth visitors. Docents and volunteers also work with students in the classroom and outdoors doing hands-on activities, as well as special educational yearly events such as Sun Mountain Gathering and Winter Feast. Volunteers are needed Tuesday through Fridays and occasionally weekends.
Complete the simple form at the bottom of this page for quickest response to your volunteer interest. If you have questions not addressed here, contact the Director of Education at 505-476-1272.
Museum Gift Shop:
The Colleen Cloney Duncan Museum Shop's selections reflects the collections of the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture and is a truly unique shopping experience. The shop provides visitors with a wide array of contemporary Native arts — ceramics, sculpture, textiles, jewelry, kachina dolls, prints, and baskets — as well as clothing and an extensive selection of popular and scholarly books on Native cultures, boxed cards, etc. Volunteers are needed to help with retail sales and general shop needs, especially on weekends.
Complete the simple form at the bottom of this page for quickest response to your volunteer interest. If you have questions not addressed here, contact the Museum Gift Shop at 505-982-5057 or miacshop@swcp.com.
Laboratory of Anthropology Library:
The Laboratory of Anthropology maintains an extensive research Library and Archives. The museum has a 25,000 volume non-circulating special research library, computer catalogued and available to the public and researchers in the library or on-line via OCLC. The library specializes in the southwestern American Indian cultures from earliest times to the contemporary. We are looking for people willing to shelve books (knowledge of Dewey Decimal system necessary) as well as repair books and periodicals, check-in journals, indexing projects and assist patrons. We also need volunteers to help organize and run the annual Book Sale Fundraiser held annually. Tasks include sorting donations and pricing books, cash handling, supervising booksale areas. Special projects may include placing leftover donated items on Ebay or other online listing (Amazon.com or Abebooks, etc.), book weeding projects, or updating/cleaning up catalog database.
Volunteer hours are available from 8:30 am - 4:30pm Monday - Friday, except during the booksale weekend when we need volunteers Saturday and Sunday.
Donation questions are best addressed by calling Librarian Allison Colborne at 505-476-1264 or allison.colborne@state.nm.us.
Complete the simple form at the bottom of this page for quickest response to your volunteer interest. If you have questions not addressed here - or are specifically interested in making a donation - contact Librarian Allison Colborne at 505-476-1264 or allison.colborne@state.nm.us.
General Office Assistance:
From time to time, MIAC needs help with photocopying, collating, data entry, filing, assembling packets/binders, member mailings, etc. Complete the simple form at the bottom of this page if you wouldn't mind being asked for help with short notice.
Archaeological Research Collections (ARC):
The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture collections staff is nearing completion of a major move to a new repository at the Center for New Mexico Archaeology. Archaeological Research Collections staff is looking for some individuals to lend a hand to prepare for this big move of approximately 10 million objects.
Volunteers are needed for various tasks such as compiling or checking inventories, and re-housing and re-boxing artifacts. These tasks will require attention to detail and a tolerance for repetitive tasks. They may also involve some heavy lifting of boxes of 30-40 lbs, and working in very dusty areas. Volunteers will be part of a team, working during one day per week, in either a morning or afternoon shift (9 am – Noon or 1 to 4 pm).
Complete the simple form at the bottom of this page for quickest response to your volunteer interest. If you have questions not addressed here, contact Diana Sherman, Archaeology Collections Manager at 505-476-4440 or diana.sherman@state.nm.us.
MIAC Native Gardens and the Avanyu Trail
Working outdoors with replicas of Historic and Prehistoric structures and native plants.
Complete the simple form at the bottom of this page for quickest response to your volunteer interest. If you have questions not addressed here, contact the Director of Education at 505-476-1272.
Docent Training Program:
As the docent training program is an intense, 30 session program, it is only held as needed. The next docent training will take place beginning October of 2020, with a graduation date in May 2021. For more information please contact the coordinator, Andy Albertson, at andrew.albertson@state.nm.us.
Docents are an essential and sustaining part of the Museum, and indeed serve as the public face of the Museum for our visitors from around the state and around the world. We rely on our docents to give daily guided tours, to help with our hands-on classroom activities and outreach visits, and to participate in our fundraising and special events for the public, as available.
Docent training classes are arranged by the docent coordinator, other knowledgeable museum staff, guest artists and speakers, tribal representatives, with panel discussions, and studio tours as well as other fieldtrips. The class will take place at the Museum once a week on Monday mornings from 9 am to 12:30 pm and will last through May 2021. Docent training is considered similar in scope and commitment to a college level seminar - without the term paper at the end! Following successful training as a docent, we ask that you be able to commit a minimum of two years as a docent.