DIY Heritage Institutions as Third Places: Caring, Community and Wellbeing Among Volunteers at the Australian Jazz Museum

2020

Journal of Sociology

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In recent decades, the heritage sector has become increasingly precarious amid the rise of austerity neoliberalism, impacting both the efficacy of heritage institutions and the labour experiences of those who run them. While scholarly literature has regularly examined these impacts for mainstream heritage institutions, little work considers volunteer-run, do-it-yourself (DIY) community heritage organisations. This article takes a serious leisure perspective to explore what constitutes ‘good work’ for volunteers in a DIY heritage institution, the Australian Jazz Museum (AJM). Drawing on interviews with 26 AJM volunteers, we discuss some of the ‘rewards’ and ‘costs’ of career volunteering in this institution. Our research suggests that the conditions for good work are contingent on the efforts of volunteers in management roles, while the conditions for bad work are heightened by austerity policies affecting funding opportunities. The case study also highlights the need to consider the value of work beyond remuneration.

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Career volunteering as good work in do-it-yourself heritage institutions: A serious leisure perspective

Cantillon

2020

Journal of Sociology

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“…Research conducted on community heritage sector organizations working to preserve popular music histories suggests that these museums and archives function as "third places" [22], which promote a sense of well-being for the, especially older, volunteers who work for them [23,24]. The Australian Jazz Museum, for example, was found to be "a caring environment, benefiting the individuals who engage with it by meeting the needs necessary to support the mental, emotional, physical and social well-being of volunteers -and the wider community -by preserving localized popular music heritage, and by supporting the social lives and health of ageing adults" [25] (p. 11).…”

Section: Links Between Heritage and Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

New and Emerging Challenges to Heritage and Well-Being: A Critical Review

Taçon

2019

Heritage

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In the past decade, scholarship has documented the ways in which interacting with different forms of heritage impact individual and/or community well-being, as well as the harm to human well-being that occurs when heritage is damaged or destroyed. We bring the results of a review of this literature together, defining both heritage and well-being in relation to each other and exploring the relationship between heritage and well-being. New and emerging threats to heritage and, in turn, well-being are outlined, as well as new ways of preserving heritage for future generations. The future of heritage is discussed along with the importance of the concept of “living heritage”. We conclude that heritage is essential for contemporary and future well-being, and that if we do not better care for heritage then human health will be negatively impacted.

“…Few studies, however, consider the potential drawbacks -the costs -of volunteering in heritage institutions. Even those studies that use a serious leisure framework focus on the extent to which heritage volunteers are motivated by selfinterest, accruing personal rewards and enhancing a sense a well-being (Cantillon & Baker, 2018;Edwards, 2005;Orr, 2006;Stamer, Lerdall, & Guo, 2008). Holmes (2009, p. 1) discusses some of the financial costs associated with volunteering -such as paying for travel, parking, uniforms and memberships -as well as time costs for those who also engage in paid work and volunteering at multiple organisations.…”

Section: Career Volunteering In Heritage Institutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is also limited research on the experiences of volunteers in institutions preserving popular music's past, and the work that has been done has a tendency to focus on rewards, to the extent that it might be accused of being boosterist in approach (e.g. Baker, 2017;Cantillon & Baker, 2018). This article provides some balance to the more celebratory scholarship by investigating how the costs of career volunteering manifest in DIY popular music heritage institutions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Serious leisure and the DIY approach to heritage: considering the costs of career volunteering in community archives and museums

Cantillon

2019

Leisure Studies

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This article takes a serious leisure perspective to examine the costs associated with career volunteering in DIY heritage institutions focused on the collection, preservation and curation of popular music's past. While the rewards of serious leisure have been analysed extensively in the literature, costs are addressed less frequently. Moreover, Stebbins' framing of costs has been critiqued as ambiguous and underdeveloped. In this article, we draw on Stebbins' tripartite model of tensions, dislikes and disappointments to analyse costs that emerged from ethnographic interviews undertaken with volunteers in 13 DIY popular music heritage institutions. Types of costs included tensions that were interpersonal, relational, financial, temporal (work, family, leisure), and related to well-being (emotional, physical); dislikes centred on shortages of dependable volunteers, volunteers who demonstrate a 'lack of care', and ineffective leadership; and disappointments focused on being let down by others, unsuccessful funding applications, and organisational change. Although rewards outweigh costs, we find that recognising the costs involved for career volunteers in DIY heritage institutions is crucial for contextualising rewards and perseverance, as well as for understanding how different types of costs overlap and exacerbate one another.