Volunteer and placements

APAC’s Institutional Members may offer voluntary work placements or paid traineeships. This page lists some current opportunities.  

Voluntary Work Placements

National Theatre Archive, London

The NT Archive operates a rolling scheme offering unpaid volunteer placements for anyone over the age of 18. These are advertised via the NT Archive’s webpage when opportunities are available.

  • Volunteer placements are expected to be able to work well both independently and as part of the Archive team. Volunteers are either set an individual task so that they can have a sense of ownership and fulfilment in completing a task, or they are involved in ongoing projects within the department. Tasks may include but are not limited to listing, cataloguing using our CALM software, conducting research, de-accessioning, and repackaging/rehousing.
  • Duration of placement: Flexible but usually either 2 weeks full time or a couple of days a week for several weeks.
  • Location: NT Archive, NT Studio, 83-101 The Cut, SE1 8LL (note: this is not the main NT site)
  • Reimbursement: Travel expenses up to £10 a day and lunch expenses up to £5 a day are reimbursed on production of receipts.
  • For any questions, please contact: archive@nationaltheatre.org.uk
  • When contacting the NT Archive, please mention that you saw the announcement on the APAC website.

The Royal Ballet and Opera Collections

The Royal Ballet and Opera Collections offers a rolling programme of work experience placements. The placements are designed to offer a taste of working in archives and the heritage sector, no prior experience is required.

  • Candidates will have the opportunity to be involved in helping with ongoing projects to preserve and catalogue the historic collections of the Royal Opera House. You may be asked to handle and repackage archival material and create data for the Collections catalogue or Performance Database.
  • Duration of placement: each volunteer opportunity has a role description and suggested time commitment.
  • Location: The Royal Opera House, Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD 
  • Reimbursement: the placements are unpaid but we reimburse agreed out-of-pocket expenses for travel up to £13.50 per day and refreshments up to £4 for longer sessions.
  • Contact: to view available opportunities and apply, visit our volunteer page Volunteer (rbo.org.uk).
  • Please mention that you saw the announcement on the APAC website.

Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Theatre and Performance, London

The V&A holds the UK’s National Collection for the Performing Arts documenting current practice and the history of all areas of the performing arts, including dance, drama, opera, circus, puppetry, comedy, musical theatre, popular music, pantomime, set design and more.

Work placements and volunteering roles can cover a variety of positions across the museum, such as front-of-house, working on events such as the V&A’s annual Performance Festival as well as back-of-house with curatorial and archive teams on object-based tasks.

  • Contact: All opportunities and information will be listed on the V&A’s vacancy and volunteering page https://www.vam.ac.uk/info/jobs#volunteering
  • When specific roles come up with the Theatre and Performance collections, please mention you came across the opportunity via APAC’s page.