Would you like to become a volunteer Exhibition Guide at Exeter’s award-winning museum

Following the runaway success of the Grayson Perry: Aspects of Myself Exhibition we are expanding our current team to support the upcoming exhibitions.

Becoming a Volunteer Exhibition Guide at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM) is an exciting and rewarding opportunity. You’ll gain valuable skills for your CV, meet new people, and boost your wellbeing — all while bringing world‑class exhibitions to life. As an Exhibition Guide, you’ll help visitors feel welcome, spark conversations about art and culture, support exhibition activities, and play a key role in creating an unforgettable experience for everyone who walks through our doors.

We are seeking voluteer applicants to start w/c 22 September.

Living Labyrinths: Art and Fungi (3 October–21 February), an exciting opportunity for students returning to Exeter for university or college, as well as Devon residents ready to dive into a longer-term creative journey.

You will dive into the hands‑on, real‑world skills you need. From keeping loan objects safe through the Government Indemnity Scheme to mastering ticketing processes, you’ll learn how to keep everything running smoothly.

And because no two days in a gallery are ever the same, we’ll also equip you to handle those unexpected moments—whether it’s managing unacceptable behaviour, dealing with food and drink in the galleries, or supporting an evacuation.

You

As a volunteer Exhibition Guide, you'll welcome visitors and assist with their inquiries. It is anticipated there will be variety of questions and reactions that people will have about the content of the material, and we will train you to assist them. There will also be an opportunity to meet the curator for each exhibition. Living Labyrinths: Art and Fungi – RAMM’s Contemporary Art curator, Lara Goodband.

Eligibility

• Open to anyone 18 years and over.
• 15 to 17 year olds: We have 4 places open to you from Sat 3 Oct to Sun 21 Feb – to participate you must be available to attend at least 8 shifts in total, which are 3 hours in length with a 30 minute break
• Returning and new university students to Exeter are welcome to apply now to start this autumn with Living Labyrinths: Art and Fungi.  Given that Living Labyrinths does not open until 3 Oct, you should be available, other than Christmas break, until 21 February

Requirements

• Good communication and listening skills.
• Ability to work as part of a team.
• Smart appearance and some customer service experience.
• A commitment to continued learning, enabling you to deepen your knowledge of the exhibition’s content throughout your time as an exhibition guide.
• Reliability and good timekeeping.
• Comfort standing or moving around for periods of time, with provision being made for those that do need to sit on occasion.

Time Commitment

• Ideally a minimum of 3 hours weekly with time out for holidays and essential appointments.
  
  
• The current available shifts are Tuesdays to Saturdays, no shifts are available 2pm Friday afternoons or all day on Sundays.
  • Morning:     9.45am to 12.30pm  (2:45hr)
  • Mid:             11am to 2.30pm       (3:30hr)
  • Afternoon:   2pm to 5pm             (3hr)
    
• Each shift includes a 30-minute tea/lunch break
  
• The museum is closed on Mondays and bank holidays.
• As each exhibition closes you will be invited to volunteer with the next exhibition, until you resign or indicate your planned leaving date.

Training

Online and in-person training sessions start w/c 22 September for Living Labyrinths: Art and Fungi.

The required training will include:

• 90-minute self-led e-learning induction at home including safeguarding specific to the museum
• 45 to 60 minute virtual walkthrough of the exhibition at home; and/or
• 75-minute Orientation tour and role specific training in the museum
• A 30 to 45 minute in-person exhibition tour, which will include a guide to the artists and the works and a chance to ask questions. 

Application Deadlines

Living Labyrinths: Art and Fungi
Initial application cut‑off: 6pm, Monday 20 July
Final deadline: 6pm, Monday 17 August

Please note: We reserve the right to close this opportunity early, so we encourage you to apply promptly.

We only accept on-line applications. If you require a reasonable adjustment or other assistance in the recruitment process, please contact the Volunteer Manager at 01392 265984 or ramm.volunteer@exeter.gov.uk.

We are committed to a safe recruitment process to help the organisation attract and appoint the right people for the role and responsibilities. We will not accept applicants who are not suitable to work with children, young people, or adults at risk. If you have any questions around your suitability for the role, please contact the Volunteer Manager, details above. 

Living Labyrinths: Art & Fungi

This unique art exhibition explores the cultural world of fungi through a lens of scientific enquiry.    

By bringing together the work of leading contemporary artists, Living Labyrinths suggests ways to reimagine our relationship with the earth. It explores themes of symbiosis, and biodiversity, as well as concepts from medical mycology.

Through artworks in a range of media including ceramic, glass, photography, painting and textile, Living Labyrinths offers thought-provoking interpretations of mycorrhizal networks. The exhibition considers how fungi shape both our physical and conceptual worlds.  

Newly conserved dried specimens, natural history drawings and lantern slides from across RAMM’s collections of fungi have inspired two new art commissions. A large-scale drawing of the human mycobiome by Gemma Anderson-Tempini, and bio-sonic sound art of mycelial networks by Jason Singh feature in the exhibition.  

Also on display will be watercolours of fungi by Beatrix Potter, better known as the children’s author and illustrator, and Cy Twombly’s influential collage series Natural History, Part I, Mushrooms from 1974. These major loans will be displayed alongside innovative and inspiring work by eight internationally renowned contemporary artists: Sian Bonnell, Seana Gavin, Andy Harper, Hilde Hauan Johnsen, Lucy Mercer, Jo Pearl, Chantal Powell, and Holly Stevenson.

The Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery would like to acknowledge the following institutions who have helped to make this exhibition possible: the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Tate.

Find out more including links to artists work at Living Labyrinths: Art & Fungi 

With special thanks to the artists. 

Header image:  Land of the Midnight Mushrooms, Seana Gavin, 2019 © Seana Gavin