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.

Example of a working week - Click to download

Moldova Public Holidays – Click to download

Asociația Oberliht – afișe în Chișinău / places for posters

Deschide harta în geam nou / Click to open map in a new window

Volunteers

Isabel Sanchez Villena (age: 30 / Spain)

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.

Rosanna Wedel (age: 20 / Germany)

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

 

Past volunteers

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
 
Felix Reisbeck (Germany): January 2010 – July 2010
 
 

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.