"My mother has instilled the value of community service from an early age, yet Arabesque was my first volunteer experience in the arts. This remarkable festival has been a great experience not only aesthetically, but culturally as well. My mother and I just joined the Friends because we had such a wonderful experience. Shukran, Arabesque!"
- Nawal Ziyadeh, first generation Jordanian-American [daughter of Kwala Nimri, Jordan]
Other Volunteer Opportunities
International/ Multicultural Volunteer Project
The individuals who are Friends today reflect the diversity of the Kennedy Center in 2008. Kennedy Center President Michael M. Kaiser's keen interest in the performing arts of other cultures, reflected in the programming of our international festivals, has changed the face of this institution and has changed the face of the Friends as well. Many more volunteers from other countries have joined the Friends volunteer corps since Mr. Kaiser came on board in 2001. Fifty-five Friends hail from 32 different countries, including Afghanistan, Argentina, Bulgaria, Cuba, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, and Turkey. As a result, our current outreach initiative in 2008 is the active recruitment of volunteers from the international community around the Washington area, either as full-time active Friends or for special projects.
If you are visiting the U.S. for a temporary assignment (e.g., ex-pat assignment) and/or speak at least one foreign language fluently, we would love to hear from you. The Friends Office considers applicants for translation projects and for focus groups addressing international/multicultural matters. We would also love for you to join our team of Festival volunteers who help the Friends staff all the festivals the Center presents throughout the year, including our international/multicultural festivals. For more information, please see Festival Volunteering.
If you are interested in learning more, send your name, address, e-mail address, phone number, country of birth, and any special skills to vols@kennedy-center.org.
Special Feature
The Friends announced a new task force in the summer of 2007: the Friends International Outreach Committee. Members are active Friends from other countries who meet once a month to discuss projects that address arts volunteerism both in the United States and globally. Our International/ Multicultural volunteers are members of this committee as well. Current members are from Turkey, China, and Nicaragua.
In the spring of 2008, the Friends Outreach and International Outreach Committees, along with our international/multicultural project volunteers, planned a special event addressing arts volunteerism and culture. The Celebrating and Connecting Cultures through Arts Volunteerism training session was held on Saturday, April 26 and was a resounding success. International Outreach chair Sirin Koprucu presented topics concerning how the Friends can better serve our international visitors and tips on how to share the wonderful spirit of volunteerism at the Kennedy Center. More than 55 Friends and Festival and International/Multicultural volunteers generated many ideas on how the Friends could be proactive about and generally aware of culturally based differences. Three subjects were addressed: "integrating the culture factor into our volunteer work," "concepts that help us describe and learn about world cultures in relation with our Kennedy Center experience,"and"champions of cultural sensitivity in customer service." Participants left with an increased awareness of the cultural challenges Friends face while volunteering at the Center, as well as a greater understanding of how culture shapes individuals' perceptions of the world.
The theme, Celebrating and Connecting Cultures through Arts Volunteerism, is here to stay. Our next big project will be to prepare volunteers for our upcoming international festival, Arabesque: Arts of the Arab World, in February 2009. Our international Friends and international/multicultural project volunteers will continue to play a vital role as we strive to serve as a role model for promoting arts volunteerism globally.
Why Arts Volunteerism?
Sirin speaks out about the many possibilities of arts volunteerism across the globe.
"I moved to the U.S. from Turkey in 2002 after getting married to my husband who was a naval officer stationed in Washington, D.C., at the time. My hope to make friends in a new place as well as a new country and my love for the arts took me to the Kennedy Center's Friends Office. I can't believe that it's been four years since that day. I am proud to be part of one of the friendliest communities in town, love sharing my passion for the arts with fellow Friends and our patrons, and I'm also proud to talk about the Kennedy Center when my daytime job takes me to other countries."
Sirin Koprucu, 2003
