What Volunteering with us could mean for you
Ezen Foundation is run with the primary aim to facilitate cross-cultural exchange and education between Japan and the UK. We are working to cultivate an online presence to introduce and educate the public on Japanese prints and building a programme of comprehensive cultural exhibitions. These have been carefully curated for people to enjoy original works of art whilst furthering their knowledge of Japanese art and culture.
Our foundation is multifaceted, and we aim to give our volunteers the opportunity to test their strengths and try out something new. We have several volunteer roles available within our organisation that volunteers are able to assist in. All offer the opportunity for those looking to gain skills and knowledge in the art and culture sector.
Exhibitions and Curation
When we have changes of exhibitions, there is the opportunity to learn the process of artwork selection, curating the display, and the intricacies involved in the entire process from conception to installation.
- Researching and selecting artworks for exhibition
- Developing the exhibition concept and narrative, including writing exhibition texts such as wall labels, brochures, and catalog essays.
- Overseeing the installation and deinstallation of artworks, ensuring proper handling and care.
- Promoting the exhibition through various channels such as social media.
Events
Help out at Ezen events and join in on brainstorming sessions to plan future ones. This is a priceless experience for those interested in the events sector!
We are looking for imaginative and organised ‘ideas’ people with a passion for Japanese culture to help coordinate and run events under our NPO.
Coordinating events is all about networking and organisation. Volunteers will be asked to
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send out emails to relevant parties
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write up rough / detailed plans with some guidance for event proceedings
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brainstorm ideas for events
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help with set-up and tidy-up for events
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help out on event days
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keep track of event goals and timelines
Art Digitisation and Databases
Help Ezen achieve our goal of setting up an open-access database of Japanese Prints for researchers. Those interested in archival and database curation will love this role.
Your job as a volunteer for database collation would be to work alongside those digitising the resources to create a comprehensive catalogue. Currently resources and databases relating to this topic is very haphazard and spread across various platforms. Our aim is to consolidate and create a visual and textual database to fill this gap.
The aim is for the database to be used for research purposes, so accurate information and attention to detail is a must!
Database entries can include:
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woodblock series
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artist signatures
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visual art references
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artist bios
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publisher seals
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censorship seals
Social Media
Take the opportunity to engage with our 40K+ followers on our Instagram account! Help to cultivate a creative and educational journey for our followers while picking up some social media skills on the way.
Researching Japanese prints and works of art, with the aim of creating captivating and enticing posts for our audience is the key activity for the educational segment of our social media presence. The role will be to take our audience and followers on a creative journey of daily discoveries of Japanese art and culture.
This will involve:
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Writing attractive captions for social media posts
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Finding high quality, high-res images
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Selecting and digitising images in our archive and editing for upload
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Utilising our exhibition to introduce our social media presence
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Looking at collaborations and ways to further engagement
Fundraising
Help Ezen formulate and execute kickstart campaigns and prepare documents for grant applications. Ezen Foundation has various projects in the pipeline, but all these things cost money!
That’s why as a non-profit organisation, we rely on the help of volunteers and the generosity of donators. But an essential part of acquiring funding for these activities is fundraising.
As a fundraising volunteer, you’ll be
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working with Ezen staff and events volunteers to develop Eventbrite pages
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develop and activate kick-start campaigns
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brainstorm new and exciting fundraising activities with Ezen staff and volunteers
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help prepare resources and write grants applications