Around 20 volunteers are working at S.M.A.K., think on Late Thursday, a Teachers' Day, Children's Art Day, the Art Matinee on Sunday, Museum Night, ... and the list goes on.
There are also regular special tasks on the programme at S.M.A.K., such as driving cakes from a bakery in Genk every Saturday at 10 (during the Denicolai & Provoost exhibition), printing gigantic woodcuts for the Joris Van de Moortel HELL ON EARTH exhibition or smoothing out folds with an iron at the past Culture Market on the Kouter in Ghent.
Martin, Saartje, Sigrid and Vlad are four of them. Read what they think below.
Sigrid: “You end up in a place where everyone has the same interests. And because of its versatility, I learn new things all the time." Sigrid started volunteering in early 2024, and she had a good reason to do so: "I was looking for a place with great projects, like S.M.A.K. has with S.M.A.K. Moves."
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Vlad: “I moved here from Ukraine on my own. Being a volunteer has given me a good way to practise my Dutch and learn to talk to people". But is there anything else that attracts him? ‘Everything in S.M.A.K. is creativity: the place, the people, the atmosphere. And everyone here is friendly”.
Martin: "I've been a S.M.A.K. volunteer for 16 years, I've had the opportunity to do and experience a lot, from events on stage to collecting press articles. Once I got to help out during Honoré δ'O's performance ‘present/absent’, where I had to spend 6 hours at a table writing those two words on post-its." One of the very first S.M.A.K. volunteers, Martin comes to lend a hand every week on Tuesdays: "I'm here every week, but I don't always come to the venue for that reason. But just knowing already that you are around all this art gives such a boost".
Saartje: “I very much want to work in the cultural sector. Volunteering in S.M.A.K. is a great introduction. You discover the versatility of the sector, you come into contact with lots of people, it's never boring, and most of all it's a way for me to get in”.
Thank you, Christa, Desirée, Fabienne, Fabienne, Gilbert, Gina, Leyla, Lien, Lore, Lubna, Magda, Marianne, Marianne, Martin, Matteo, Mulugeta, Saartje, Sigrid, Tania, Tanya, Theo, Vlad and Zeno, thank you!
Does this volunteer work also seem like something for you? Send a motivated e-mail with a concise CV to filip@smak.be.
