Art and the Landscape Volunteers: The Old Manse

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Overview:

This summer, Los Angeles-based artist Sam Durant installed a site-specific, participatory installation at The Trustees’ Old Manse, located in Concord. The Old Manse is a National Historic Landmark built in 1770 and former home and gathering place for politicians, thinkers, and transcendentalists including Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Durant, known for multimedia works that take a critical view on our social, political, and cultural trope and often reference American history, has created a structure on-site in the North Field near Old Manse that will serve as a meeting place for the local and surrounding community to discuss and debate relevant issues of the day.

The Meeting House is a platform for inspiring new ideas in relation to the intractable structures of racial discrimination and segregation. Based on houses constructed by the first free Africans in Concord (1770s) the pavilion structure creates an open, transparent framework that points to the future. The Meeting House will host a series of public programs, entitled Lyceum 2016, inviting visitors to break of out the narratives that keep us from imaging and producing the equitable social relations that we seek.

Responsibilities

We will have a variety of needs that will depend on the event however responsibilities may include:

• Set up and/or break down space for Lyceum
• Handing out programs, provide directions to visitors, and answer questions
• Interacting with visitors before the scheduled program and tours
• Serve refreshments
• Assist with visitor parking

Qualifications

• Friendly demeanor
• Interest in The Old Manse and/or an art background a plus

Physical Demands of the position

• Ability to walk over uneven terrain; stand for long periods of time, and ability to spend significant periods of time outside and in spaces with no air conditioning. Reasonable accommodations can be made.

Commitment

Availability to volunteer for one or more of the following events:

• August 13 th: The Picnic (Shift: 11:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.)
• September 24 th: Poetry Reading (Shifts from 8:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.)
• October 15 th: A New Framework for Dialogue (Shift: 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.)
• October 16 th: New England Town Meeting (Shift: 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.)