Volunteering in the Jekyll Island Arts Association

JIAA is an entirely volunteer-run association that needs your help throughout the year. Activities which need volunteers include Goodyear Front Desk which also manages Shop Sales. Set-up and Take-down for Monthly Gallery Exhibits is a fun time with the Sunday Public Reception to be prepared and Served, unavoidably a certain amount of Cleaning and Maintenance cannot be avoided. The Annual Arts Festival in the Spring and the Merry Artists Show in the Fall, are times when as many as 100 volunteers are involved.

What Do We Expect Our Volunteers To Do?

Desk: The front desk at Goodyear Cottage is staffed 362 days a year: from noon -  4 pm on weekdays and from 10 am to 4 pm on weekends. Volunteers are asked to work three-to-four hour sessions. Volunteers assist visitors and process sales transactions. Additional volunteers are needed during festival events.

Reception: Volunteer duties during Gallery and other special events include  meeting and greeting our visitors and guests, serving refreshments and acting as the face of our Association.  

Staging:  Under supervision of the Festival or Gallery Chair Person(s), volunteers will setup and take down art work for display or sale.  The Gallery and Festival tents need to attractively display work representing a wide variety of art forms. Each type of art displays differently - pottery is not like woven goods and wall art is not like jewelry. Properly displaying art takes skill and a love for the diverse art forms.

Events: Merry Artists, Annual Arts Festival and the Jekyll Singers all use different venues. Volunteer teams ensure that the show goes on!  Volunteers staff the Gallery and sales locations and process sales transactions. Volunteers assist with venue setup as needed (chairs, tents, tables, signs); assist with registering and checking in items for display or sale. Registration of hundreds of items, even with online pre-registration, requires many volunteers to make sure everything goes as planned. Volunteers greet guests and at the festival drive the shuttles to and from parking areas. It is always a pleasure to see artists and other volunteers come to our venues and say, "Thank you for making this possible."

How Do I Sign Up to Volunteer?

To help coordinate our volunteer needs, we are using an online web application, SignUpGenius.  As a member of the Arts Association you may create an account at any time, but no volunteer activities are assigned - you only volunteer when and where you want. You choose which areas you want to Sign Up for.  There is no cost to register with SignUpGenius. Members must be logged in to see links related to working at the front desk in Goodyear.

Requesting Volunteers

Members of the Association who Chair Events and Operations of the the JIAA will make requests to the SignUpGenius Administrator for so many volunteers from 1 or more of the 4 types of volunteer. The Administrator then sends Emails to various matching group members with requests to volunteer for available times and duties. When you receive such an email the link included will take you directly to SignUpGenius to make your choices. These Sign Ups change through the year with events like the Annual Arts Festival or Merry Artists taking priority. Not everyone can volunteer. You volunteer only when you think you can contribute time and energy to the request.

Forgotten What You Volunteered For?

Any time you want to check your time commitments login to SignUpGenius and click on the Yellow Disc at the top of the page showing your initials and review your volunteer choices.

Making Improvements to SignUpGenius.

Using SignUpGenius allows our volunteers to select the activity, time, duration and day that they can help. We are looking at ways to improve the use of this software tool and welcome your comments. Our primary interest is to simplify the use of SignUPGenius with changes like using better descriptions of the volunteer need. You can email suggestions to jekyllartists@gmail.com