Percy Thomson Gallery shop needs ‘friendly, bubbly’ volunteers

A shop supporting Taranaki artists needs more volunteers.

Percy Thomson Gallery director Laura Campbell says with the Taranaki Arts Trail fast approaching and many of the volunteers taking part in the trail, the shop needs more volunteers so it can continue to run.

“Most of the current volunteers are busy with the trail. At the shop, we have a number of Taranaki artists who volunteer their time to run the store. The benefit of this is people visiting the shop can talk to the artists personally about their work.”

She says volunteers don’t need to be an artist to volunteer for the shop, but a friendly and bubbly nature is a must.

“We have a lot of people coming through and during the arts trail, there’ll be even more. This role would fit anyone who would like to volunteer some time and work with the community. It involves talking to people and handling sales.”

As well as being a great opportunity for people to fill their days, Laura says volunteering would also work for high school students.

“This is perfect for high school students to get some work experience in retail. It would look great on the CV as it’s retail experience and also helping the community.”

Volunteers can choose how often they wish to work.

“This could be once a week or once a month, any little bit helps. The shop is open seven days a week so the volunteers can pick the day that suits them.”

She says the volunteers will receive training on sales and running the store.

“It’s a very supportive team in the shop and new volunteers will be given training.”

As well as helping to run the shop, Laura says volunteers will also support Taranaki artists.

“All the works for sale in there are by Taranaki artists.’’

For more information, people can visit the Percy Thomson Art Gallery and speak to Laura.