Volunteer Opportunity
Arts & Economic Prosperity IV: Volunteer Opportunity & Job Description
Americans for the Arts has partnered with the Regional Arts Commission (RAC) and over 200 other organizations across the United States to conduct Arts & Economic Prosperity IV, a vital study that will document the impact of the nonprofit arts and cultural industry in the St. Louis region. We are seeking volunteers to aid and facilitate an important segment of the study, the Audience Expenditure Surveys.
These customized findings for St. Louis City and County will demonstrate the impact of spending by nonprofit arts and culture organizations and their audiences on the economy, specifically:
- The total dollars spent by local nonprofit arts and culture organizations.
- The total dollars spent by audiences as a direct result of their attendance at arts and culture events in Saint Louis City and County.
- The number of full-time equivalent jobs supported by arts spending.
- The amount of resident, household income—including salaries and wages—generated by arts spending.
- The amount of local and state government tax revenues generated by arts spending
Audience Expenditure Surveys:
For 2011, RAC will be conducting and collecting over 1,500 surveys from various arts and culture events throughout St. Louis City & County. The projected goal is to collect up to 50 surveys for each event RAC’s volunteer survey team attends. These events are generally considered to be one evening of a performing arts performance (theatre, dance, music) or a gallery opening, or even a festival or fair. Some past events include surveying before a performance at the MUNY Theatre, Shakespeare Festival, a Jazz at the Bistro Concert, a Contemporary Art Museum exhibition opening and many more! The Economic Impact Study Coordinator will schedule and coordinate all arts and cultural events for 2011. To find out about upcoming surveying opportunities, volunteers will be able to view and access the calendar of scheduled survey events through the Arts & Cultural Events Google Calendar link provided by the Economic Impact Study Coordinator upon volunteer application acceptance.
Volunteer Job Description:
All volunteers should possess an outgoing personality with the ability to approach strangers in a friendly and professional manner. Volunteers will provide the audience members with a pleasant experience at all times, even if an audience member declines to take the survey. In many ways this volunteer opportunity is similar to a market researcher position, so those interested in that type of work should apply! All volunteers will be dressed in a professional manner and will act as a representative of the Regional Arts Commission and Americans for the Arts at each arts and cultural event.
Since this is an unpaid volunteer opportunity, we have been able to provide compensation in the form of complimentary tickets to any ticketed event that the volunteer surveys. Please note that some of the scheduled events are free and open to the public so volunteers may receive other tokens of appreciation for their service. A week before the scheduled event each volunteer will receive a reminder email of their upcoming survey event that will include the following information: scheduled event date, the time volunteers are expected to arrive and survey, the address of the event, parking information and the name of the point person who will be providing all survey materials at the scheduled event.
For more information or to apply for this position please contact:
Rebecca Raynes
Economic Impact Study Coordinator
Regional Arts Commission
6128 Delmar Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63112
P: (314) 863-5811 ext. #20
F: (314) 863-6932
rebecca@stlrac.org
