Nolan Center needs more staff to cover theater and museum

The Nolan Center, Wrangell’s museum, movie theater and community center, is suffering from a staffing shortage. The center has received some help from volunteers, but director Cyni Crary said they hope to hire for various new positions.

“We’re basically down to just me,” Crary said. “I had one of the theater staff helping in the gift shop, and she was doing a really good job, but she’s gone for the whole month of August. I kind of lost all the help that I would have had.”

Crary said they are looking for a Nolan Center coordinator, as well about two attendants and as many theater staff as possible. According to a job description on the borough website, the coordinator “develops, organizes and manages staff, contractors and volunteers in supporting the museum and community events.”

Crary said the attendants would help set up for events and run the gift shop, among other tasks. They also really need people to help run the movie theater on weekends.

“The theater doesn’t have enough staff right now to even have a movie all three nights,” she said. “If we don’t get staff, I’ll have to cut down the number of movies that we show.”

The coordinator position is full time, she said, while the attendant and theater positions are part time. She said anybody 14 and older is welcome to apply to help out at the theater.

While the Nolan Center looks to fill these roles, volunteers from the Friends of the Museum have stepped in to help. Crary said the volunteers mainly help out around the gift shop a few hours a day, particularly when cruise ships are in town and a lot of visitors stop by.

The Friends of the Museum normally helps through advocacy and fundraising for the museum, President Michael Bania said, but they are always looking for more ways to assist.

There are about 10 people on the list to volunteer, Bania said. While they mostly help run the gift shop, she said some also try to help where needed.

“We had a training session about three or four weeks ago to learn how to use the cash register and how to open and close the museum,” she said. “That way Cyni is able to do what she needs to do, and we just cover the tourists and the museum.”