Independent Cinema for Everyone

Volunteers’ Week is an annual celebration of the fantastic contribution millions of volunteers make across the UK – and it’s taking place from the 1-7 June 2015.

We would like to say a big thank you to the many people who volunteer their time to Plymouth Arts Centre this and every week. Our marketing volunteer Owen Jones has shared some thoughts about his experiences with us.

Having moved down from London where I had volunteered at an art group, I was looking for another opportunity to give and learn. I applied to Plymouth Arts Centre and luckily they had an opening in digital marketing. I am currently unemployed, so this was a great chance to gain work experience and update a few skills.

Digital marketing is promoting Plymouth Arts Centre and its exhibitions, films, and education via social media and the web. So it’s using Twitter and Facebook, but also Plymouth’s own cultural app, Artory to spread and exchange information and opinion and try to get everyone excited and active.

What have I done? Since I joined in late April I have edited images for use with social media, learned to upload data to and update the Plymouth Arts Centre website, sat in a few staff meetings, and thoroughly enjoyed it all!

The staff have all been welcoming and friendly. Charlotte (the Digital Marketing Assistant) and Kate (Head of Communications and Development) who set my tasks, have both been helpful and taken the time to explain or teach me what to do.

What do I get out of it? I get simple satisfactions, like in getting a task done, but also much deeper ones like supporting a valuable institution. I have always believed in the value of the Arts, I am an artist myself, and feel that everyone should have access to stuff that makes you think and feel and isn’t just trying to sell you something.

I also get to wander around the exhibitions, which is fun. At the moment there’s two, Elizabeth Masterton & Lizzie Ridout: Tanks and Tablecloths, which includes a lot of materials from the Devonport Naval Heritage Centre, and also Matthew Houlding’s Lagoon West, that features his bright, intricate sculptures investigating the idylls and reality of a certain “deserted land of swimming pools, sunsets”.

I’m also looking forward to the film A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night which is irresistibly described as an “Iranian skateboarding vampire spaghetti western”!

If you are interested in volunteering at Plymouth Arts Centre, please send an email to info@plymouthartscinema.org