by Janet Hewitt, Guest Blogger
Working remotely took on a whole new meaning for Smithsonian Associates volunteers when programming switched to fully virtual. Suddenly, volunteers joined our ranks from different time zones, both coasts, and several states over. They signed up without ever setting foot in Ripley, let alone meet Volunteer Coordinator Jenna Jones in person.
These new volunteers could be truly remote, as in a plane ride away, forget about the Metro. And parking was never going to be a problem.
We recently talked to three such volunteers to get a sense of what it’s been like volunteering across state lines while never leaving the house. We reached out to Nicole DiMella of New Jersey, Paula Pulaski of Austin, Texas and Bruce Wood of Portland, Maine, to get their thoughts. Here are some of the highlights of what they had to say.
Nicole became a Smithsonian Associates remote volunteer in July 2020 while living in the Garden State. She was “born, raised and never left New Jersey, and probably never will.” This New Jersey native notes that “Alice Paul, Patti Smith and Queen Latifah are from N.J., so it’s obviously awesome!”
She describes herself as “an art history nerd who loves going to museums, especially since I’m only a train ride from Manhattan and spent many years working in NYC.” How did Nicole first experience the Smithsonian? “Like many middle-schoolers, I visited the National Air and Space Museum in 8th grade (and ate the astronaut ice cream from the gift shop,” she says.
Nicole’s favorite SA assignment so far has been “The Art and Life of Frida Kahlo” presented by art historian Nancy Heller. Her favorite studio arts assignment, “again, so far” (her words), was “Creativity Boosters” taught by Lori VanKirk Schue.
Until recently, Nicole’s day job was being a freelance photo editor who worked with book publishers to research and select images for publications. She recently was hired by an educational publisher, so she probably will be looking for more evening SA assignments in the future.
As many of us know by now, the real stars of many Zoom meetings and programs are pets or family members caught on camera, or audio, by surprise. Nicole had none of those stories to share but she did offer this: “Sometimes the closest earphones are my daughter’s, so I may show up with unicorns in my ears!” She added, “I love seeing Jenna’s dogs on remote volunteer meetings.”
We asked who in Nicole’s family or circle of friends is impressed by the fact she is a Smithsonian Associates volunteer. Her answer: “I’m not sure if she’s impressed, (it takes a lot) but my 10-year old daughter has peeked in on my Studio Arts programs and plans to check out my upcoming Marie Antoinette at Versailles lecture.” (They might have to fight over the unicorn earphones for that.)
Paula Pulaski, a remote volunteer since last summer, is a long-time resident of Austin, Texas. She’s lived in that artsy city for 31 years, but was born on the East Coast in Meriden, Connecticut. She lived in DC for a job for four years early in her career, before moving to Tucson and then on to Austin. She notes, “I do like the East Coast and think about relocating back to New England, but the cost of living is much higher than in the central part of the country.” While living in DC, she “often explored the Mall area and always found the museums to be treasure troves of art, history, science and many fascinating objects.”
Zoom-delivered programming is not a problem for this tech-savvy retired systems analyst who has worked with technology for 30 years. Before retirement, she worked for the State of Texas Attorney General’s Child Support Office creating computer program requirements and testing plans for new or updates to existing systems.
She heard about volunteering for SA programs from an online email group and decided to check it out last July. Her volunteer assignments in Austin had been put on hold, so she wanted to do something else that was “productive and fun.”
Her Associates assignments to date have been all Studio Arts programs. She has volunteered for classes including Colored Pencils, Painting and Collage, the Japanese Art of Gyotaku Fish Printing and currently Introduction to Afghan Geometric Design. She says, “Exploring new artist media and being inspired by the teacher and students are definitely perks for the volunteer.”
We asked her for some dream program ideas and two came to mind. Paula thinks a program focused on her “favorite classical musician” Yo Yo Ma would be wonderful. She says, Ma has lived an exciting life and his “performance, practice, and general knowledge of classical music would be a great program.” Another idea would be a program featuring Carl Pope, a past Sierra Club President, who has written a book about climate change. She thinks Pope could share his knowledge about how society, countries and the world need to reinvent how they manage energy, food, water, and land resources.
The third volunteer from afar whom we interviewed is Bruce Wood, who now lives in Portland, Maine. Bruce is no stranger to the DC area or Smithsonian museums for that matter. He lived in the Washington area from 1970 to 2011.
Bruce is new to Smithsonian Associates, having become a remote volunteer last November. But he spent more than a decade before that, from 2000 to 2011, as a volunteer at two of the Smithsonian Institution’s most visited museums. At the National Museum of American History, he did research for a curator. And at the National Air and Space Museum on the Mall, he gave public presentations.
Bruce is a former computer programmer, with expertise in budget and economics. He retired in 2000, and ever since moving to Maine has volunteered for some historic properties in the Portland area (which closed in 2020).
We asked all our long-distance remote volunteers about their basic dress code when doing virtual assignments. All agreed casual dress is one of the benefits of a Zoom-defined workplace. As Nicole put it, “It’s all about comfort these days! Maybe, MAYBE, I’ll put on lipstick….”
Bruce said, “Since my camera is off, at least once the speaker joins the program, I don’t dress differently.” His basic everyday uniform is a chamois shirt and blue jeans.
Paula says, “Dressing up is not necessary, as I often am off-camera to any of the participants. I just like to have my face and hair presentable for the programs. T-shirt, sweater and pants are what I typically wear to the sessions.”
No one mentioned footwear, so we are presuming that’s optional. And unicorn earphones sound acceptable as well. What’s not to like about remote volunteering!
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