Sunday 23 March 2014

Volunteer Experience - Spectra Parade 6.2.14

Hello and welcome to another "volunteer experience" post!

This time we were at the Spectra Parade - part of Aberdeen's "Festival of Light." Vikki, Alice, Kierah, Ashleigh and Nicole all took part, helping hand out balloons with lights attached to people who came to see the parade. 

The photos are below, along with some feedback from Kelly Shankland, who supported the girls' involvement.

The girls attended meetings beforehand to prepare them for the night.


And they met other participants


Part of their "balloon runner" role was to spend several hours untangling the balloon strings, which had gotten all tied together in transit.











A well deserved coffee!

The girls in action!













Kelly said: 

Vicki, Nicole, Ashliegh, Kierah and Alice volunteered to take part in the Reclaim the Night project which is part of Spectra, Aberdeen's Light festival.
Their main role was to prepare and distribute helium balloons to promote the project and inform spectators of the festival and parade.
They attended an event meeting led by myself and Mark Bremner (Cultural Policy and Partnerships Officer) other volunteers from Visit Aberdeen plus a member from Showsec security firm. The meeting was to inform all present of the details of the Spectra light festival and the part Reclaim the Night parade had within it. It also highlighted the health and safety issues, the individuals responsibilities to the public and the participants and their own safety. All the volunteers acted very professionally and received the information in the appropriate manner.
After the meeting the group walked the route of the parade to ensure everyone was familiar with the route and the itinerary of the parade.

The key duties of the Cultivate volunteers on the day of the event before the performance were to work as a team to prepare the promotional material led by Linsay Macdonald, to store the filled helium balloons in a safe and accessible manner, to keep stock of how many balloons were being filled and stored, to tie balloons along the route of the parade as way-markers just before the event and to ensure that each of the volunteers had a batch of flyers to distribute to spectators. During the parade the Cultivate volunteers role was to walk along with the parade and hand out balloons and flyers to spectators and passers by and inform anyone that asked questions about the parade and the light festival. After the parade their duties were to re walk the route removing any dropped flyers, burst balloons and the way-markers. The additional role was to lay out the buffet table and assist with drinks and any other requirements of the participants from the buffet table.

 The event was a huge success and the professional conduct, enthusiam and hard work from the Cultivate volunteers undoubtedly contributed to the excitement, promotion and quality of the parade.

We say - Well Done Girls!

Wednesday 19 March 2014

Outisde In - Kiln Firing 15.3.14

Hiya!

Here are a tonne of pictures from the Creative Communities Kiln Firing event last Saturday (15th March). The event, titled "Outside In," was run as a partnership between the Creative Learning Team (us!) and Arts Across Learning, and involved a riverside walk with Storyteller Grace Banks as well as an outside kiln firing lead by artist Kevin Andrew Morris. Three of our expert volunteers were there to help - Almas, Nicole, and Anne, and each were able to use their experience to make the event run as smoothly and successfully as possible!

Nicole and Anne helped set up the kiln.






 While Linsay and some helpers displayed the bunting.







Linsay displays our bunting (See blog week 8)





Then we had to prepare for fire.







And do some art!






Yum!








Then more fire!









Anne speaks to a Cultivate veteran, Fergus! Fergus tutored on the last Cultivate course.