On location
Field researchers
Volunteers help to identify people worth interviewing, arrange visits and keep field notes. Training in interview practice and recording is offered before anyone works alone.
Contribute
Volunteer Biographies
Field work, filming, photography, editing and event support are carried by volunteers who give their skills to the Institute.
The people behind the record
Many hands, one archive
Every recording that reaches the archive has passed through more than one pair of hands. Someone arranged the visit, someone operated the recorder, someone took photographs, someone labelled the tapes and someone wrote the notes that make the material usable later. Volunteers do most of this work.
The Institute has been fortunate to work with filmmakers, photographers, students and neighbours who bring professional skill and local knowledge to the same task. One long standing volunteer, a professional filmmaker and videographer, has recorded the Institute's public events and fieldwork for the archive, including conference sessions and visits by musicians from southern Italy.
Behind the camera
Photographers and videographers
Stills and moving images give an event its atmosphere. Volunteers document concerts, workshops and festivals, and the footage becomes part of the permanent collection.
In the office
Cataloguing and editing
Items must be described, transcribed and stored if they are to be found again. Volunteers help to label, index and prepare material for public use.
On the night
Event support
Programs need people at the door, at the desk and at the microphone. Volunteers greet guests, manage reservations and keep the evening running.
Add your name
If any of this sounds like work you would enjoy, read how to become a volunteer or look at the wish list of skills the Institute is currently seeking.