The Taipei Fine Arts Museum Volunteer Group – History

The Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) started recruiting volunteers in 1990. Before 1997, new volunteers were recruited on an irregular basis according to actual needs; after that, they have been recruited on a regular basis: in March and September every year. In May 1999, the Conference of General Museum Affairs of TFAM passed “Implementation of Taipei Fine Arts Museum Volunteer Program-Main Points” and “Work Regulations for Taipei Fine Arts Museum Volunteer Services”. These were published and put into effect on July 1 of the same year.

In July 2000, the Fine Arts Museum created volunteer student docent program; and 23 such volunteers were recruited. During that summer vacation, they explained, in the Museum lobby, to visitors the architectural structure and various facilities of our Museum as well as exhibitions and activities abailable that day. Their service received favorable comments.

With the experiences gained over the years, we now have combined revised and supplemented original regulations and new regulations, and compiled Main Manual for Taipei Fine Arts Museum Volunteers.

Contents of this main manual include:

1. Manual for volunteers: Selection of volunteers, items and hours of services, organization structure, on-job training and professional training, rights and obligations.
2. Points for attention for volunteers: Service items and points of attention in a particular area of the Museum where a volunteer is on duty.
3. Manual for sub-volunteer group leaders: Service items and points for attention for each sub-group.
4. Questions and answers about points for attention for volunteers on duty: Senior volunteers and sub-group leaders passing on and exchanging experiences accumulated over the years regarding various situations and how they have been handled.

The volunteer group has a sound system for personnel training and its own independent management system. In 2006, it received Excellent Volunteer Group Award from the Council for Cultural Construction of the Executive Yuan. In 2007, it again received Excellent Volunteer Group Diamond Award from the Taipei City Government.

The volunteer group has its own independent management system and the rich life experiences of its individual volunteers. It has twice received the excellent cultural volunteer award- Bronze Medal- from the Council for Cultural Construction of the Executive Yuan and a number of Excellent Volunteer Diamond Awards from the Taipei City Government.

Fine Arts Museums are venues for exchanging artistic knowledge and sharing feelings. The volunteer group of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum welcomes people with same hobbies to join us. With beaming smile and warm attention, let us work together to improve service quality of our Museum.

Successive group leaders and their terms of office: Shih-kun Chuang (1997), Hui-shun Hu (1998),Hui-mei Cheng (1999-2003), Hsiu-chin Chiang (2004-2005), Jun-feng Li (2006-2007), Li-chu Wu (2008-2009).