Open call for volunteers:

available places – 1
next deadline: 15.08.2013
service starting date: August 2013
We are looking forward for long term volunteer service – 12 months
Learn more about our activities below
This is our page in EVS database: 2011-PL-56
If you are interested please send your Curriculum Vitae and a motivation letter to: alexandru@oberliht.org.md
THANK YOU!

What do the three letters – EVS – stand for?

The European Voluntary Service is part of the Youth In Action programme, which is financed by the European Commission.
Primarily for young people the European Union has launched the Youth In Action programme, which intends to develop a sense of active European citizenship, solidarity and tolerance among young Europeans as well as granting a certain mobility within and beyond the EU’s borders. Furthermore it aims at inclusion of all young people regardless of their background. Read more on the subject here: Youth In Action Programme

The European Voluntary Service enables everyone from the age of 18 to 30 to participate in voluntary service within the EU and outside of it for a period of 6 – 12 months. It is truly a learning service as the volunteers learns a new language and acquires new skills and understanding for cultural differences. EVS covers all expenses (accommodation, travel costs, food, visa, small allowance, etc.), but as a volunteer you’re doing non-profit work and support a project with your skills and motivation. These projects cover a lot of diverse areas: civil protection, cultural heritage, arts, environment, culture, youth and so on. If you’re interested you can find more information here: European Voluntary Service

Why volunteering in Oberliht?

Oberliht Association was founded in 2000 and aims to mobilize young artists in order to improve their professional skills and to grant the needed support so that they can integrate themselves in the local and international contemporary art scene. Deemed unimportant by the Moldovan government, culture and the arts receive very little funding, which is limited to state institutions and doesn’t include independent art and culture organisations among which is Oberliht association. Therefore we heavily rely on the volunteers’ support and their energy to carry out our activities. By volunteering we wish to support the local community and we appreciate any help that is willingly given. Apart from that, by working with volunteers, we hope to gain new experiences as well as raise awareness of our activities on an international level. Since 2009 we have successfully hosted several volunteers from different countries.

Participation in the project would contribute to professional and personal development of the volunteer aiming at obtaining experience in art/culture project and events management. It will allow the volunteer to learn new languages and acquire new cultural experiences, to get to know the arts and culture scene from Moldova and from abroad, to establish new relations with artists, curators, cultural workers etc. as well as with the publics attending the organized events. By carrying out different tasks, the volunteer would also acquire new practical skills. Meeting new people and working in a team as well as individually are also an everyday reality. Although there are fixed tasks, there remains a lot of variety and space for new ideas.
The volunteer tasks will be dicussed upon volunteer arrival according to the current activities of the organization and motivation, abilities and interests of the volunteer.

What does a volunteer do in Oberliht?

In regard to volunteers we don’t expect specific experience, skills or education in any particular field, but we are looking for young people who are interested in art and culture, who embrace the values we share, are motivated to work as volunteers in order to support the local community and are not afraid to encounter difficulties, are ambitious but responsible, curious, open-minded and willing to learn, and are eager to cooperate with young people from other countries.

The following tasks take priority and need to be taken care of by volunteers:
- help running the FLAT SPACE, a small architectural unit that plays the role of a cultural info point and a public platform for participation (open 4 hours a day / 5 days a week);
- help running the ARThotel, a gallery space in Chisinau coordinated by Oberliht Association (preparation of occasional exhibitions/events);
- assisting the artists/curators in residency in Chisinau (helping them to realize their artistic projects);
- preparation and realisation of public events, technical assistance (meetings, film screenings, presentations etc.) in FLAT SPACE and ARThotel, coordination of different activities and events;
- working with computer & web based applications: sending out press releases, blog / website updates, mailing list management, database updates;
- and other tasks

Volunteers are, however, also welcome to:
- realize creative and artistic works / projects
- make a research and write texts about the city and transformations of the public space
- initiate workshops and other type of activities etc.

Oberliht activities links – Click to download

Example of a working week - Click to download

Moldova Public Holidays – Click to download

Asociația Oberliht – afișe în Chișinău / places for posters

Volunteers

Antoine Fourmy (age 23 / France / May 2013 – April 2014)

I decided to take part in Oberliht’s project in order to broaden my horizon to a new culture, as I’d always been living in France so far. I hope this gap year will allow me to have a good assessment of the Moldovan art scene, learn romanian and improve my command over the Russian language, and experience the Moldovan way of life!

Asta Slapikaite (age 23 / Lithuania / April 2013 – March 2014)

I believe that life gives us many opportunities and I took EVS as one of them. It opens you the different place of the world which is full of new findings – different language, people, culture, politics, life…and you can be part of it.

Bianca Stumptner (age 18 / Austria / August 2012 – July 2013)

I wanted to gain experience in the field of Art and get an idea of what to do after this year. It also is a step into the direction of my dream to travel around the world and learn more about different cultures.

Past volunteers

Laura Bohigas Vendrell (age 26 / Catalonia / July 2012 – March 2013)

I wanted to understand contemporary art and the artists that create it. I wanted to know how cultural organizations work from the inside, and not from the outside. I wanted to live in Eastern Europe, in a sovietic building and go by tram every day. I wanted to learn Romanian and improve my Russian. So here I am

Johanna Michiels (age 25 / Netherlands / June 2012 – March 2013)

Be attracted by the unknown and inspired by the undiscovered

Rosanna Wedel (Germany): August 2011 – June 2012

Likes: Fruits, kittens, sleep, romance novels, baking
Dislikes: Dogs, dishonesty, mushrooms, cigarettes
Wants to: gain experiences & broaden horizon

Berkhan Çağlar Karaduman (Turkey): January – April 2012

Isabel Sanchez Villena (Spain): August 2011 – May 2012

Moldova?!
I didn’t know very well where it was nor how it was, but thanks to the few things I could find on the Internet I fell in love with Chisinau: its never-ending parks with lakes, its music, its culture, …
Furthermore I got the chance to work in Oberliht and improve my art and design skills.
Why Moldova? Why not!

Isabel’s thoughts on EVS:
Our present actions and experiences form our future.
Thanks to these experiences we can grow. For this reason it is very important that we get to know our world, its different cultures and its people.
We need to observe, to analyse and to reflect on all things around us to be able to choose our own way.
The goal of the EVS programme is to help young people to reach all these things, to increase their knowledge, to grow.
When young people gain experiences as volunteers, in the future they will be able to make their decisions with the necessary knowledge.
Would you like to have a pleasant experience working as a volunteer?
If you want to, you can. You don’t need to meet any requirements. You can choose among a lot of projects.
While working as a volunteer, you can discover other countries, other cultures and you can work in your favourite field.
But you mustn’t forget that the most important thing is the project not the country.

Ana Lucia Nobre (Portugal): August – November 2011

Ana Nobre is a Visual Artist and Communication Designer, graduate of the University of Lisbon’s Faculty for Fine Arts. With a Master’s Degree in Art and Multimedia – Instalation Art and Performance – her body of work centers these and other areas.

Jasna Zwimpfer (Switzerland): August 2011

Working at Oberliht in Chisinau, learning habits and languages, exploring personalities and vegetables, discovering facets of the former Soviet Union. Pure enrichment!

Hanna Sirge (Estonia): February – July 2011

Aya Maria Urhammer (Denmark): July – August 2010

Maud Revol (France): July 2010 – June 2011

Working for Oberliht and being a volunteer in Moldova made me even more curious about various things such as Art of course but also culture, social sciences and politics in Europe and in the world. It’s been so far, the most beautiful experience of my life.
Photo: Jakob Schmitt, Chisinau 2011

Diana Arosio (Italy): January 2010 – January 2011

I live in a white coloured flat with a green door. My friends say it looks like a museum inside, because it is full of paintings and furnitures made by my family.
Main task at Oberliht: artistic work
Like: a lot of things, painting, to create things with my hands, to feel free.
Dislike: to have a boss over me, to be bored and to stay to long time at one place.
One thing I can’t leave the house without?
I don’t have anything, because the most important things don’t travel with me. They stay at home.
If I were something conected to art, what would I be?
An artist, because that is what I am.

Felix Reisbeck (Germany): January 2010 – July 2010

Main task at Oberliht: Announcment and CHIOSC.
Like: music, soccer, traveling
Dislike: snow, winter, wintersports (pretty much anything which is connected to winter)
One thing I can’t leave home without?
My ipod, because in what ever situation I am in it can usually be improved with music.
If I were something conected to art, what would I be?
I think I would be “The picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde, since it is a nice book and narcissism is fascinating and repellent at the same time.

Helen Brandt (Sweden): January 2010 – July 2010

I love to travel and meet new people, learn new things and share experiences. I like to discover the world with my camera and I always have a lot of ideas of new projects and try to put them to action.
Working at Oberliht and living in Moldova was a great experience and I learned a lot about culture, art, society and project managment and gained some really good friends.