Looking to share your love of the city?
Sign up to be an OHNY Volunteer!
Volunteers are crucial to the success of Open House New York—during the annual OHNY Weekend and year-round.
By helping to open buildings and experiences not normally open to the public, OHNY Volunteers promote a deeper understanding of how the city works, encourage civic participation, and become part of a community of curious New Yorkers and urbanists.
Read on below to learn more about ways to get involved.
Ways to Get Involved
Volunteers are the heart of Open House New York
What does being an OHNY Volunteer mean to you?
“As an OHNY volunteer, I am helping an organization whose mission resonates with my values. I am connecting with my community while we are working toward a common goal of making New York City’s amazing architecture open to all New Yorkers.”
– Jennifer Rivers, Volunteer
Do you have any tips you’d like to share with prospective volunteers?
“To anyone out there volunteering, I would remind you that wherever you are, no matter how beautiful or grand the space you’re in, it always feels better if you can share that moment of awe with someone else.”
– Ben Helmer, Volunteer
I’m an Open House New Yorker because…
“I’m an Open House New Yorker because our city needs more friendly faces to reveal what amazing places and spaces New York has to offer.”
– Justin Dinkins, Volunteer
What’s a hidden gem you’ve found through OHNY Weekend?
“The Firehouse on Jay Street, Brooklyn.”
– Fiona Torres, Volunteer
How would you describe OHNY Weekend?
“The ultimate opportunity to learn and experience what you mistakenly thought you already knew about NYC.”
– Eric Aglow, Volunteer
What’s your favorite part of volunteering for OHNY Weekend?
“The incredibly diverse group of people you meet.”
– Alba Cruz, Volunteer Manager
What do Volunteers do?
Volunteers are the hands and heart of OHNY Weekend and our year-round programming.
OHNY Volunteers serve as the public face of the organization at events by greeting guests, assisting with check-in, managing lines, and providing information about OHNY.
Why should I volunteer?
Volunteering is a great opportunity to explore and learn about a new neighborhood or place in your city, or share your love of a familiar place with visitors. We do our best to accommodate requests for volunteer assignments in specific neighborhoods, or requests to work with a friend or partner.
Weekend Volunteers receive a limited-edition OHNY Weekend t-shirt and badge allowing front-of-the-line access at certain experiences (and our immense gratitude!).
OHNY Volunteers also receive complimentary or discounted admission to OHNY’s programs, as well as access to exclusive Volunteers-only events.
Questions? Contact Volunteer Manager Alba Cruz at volunteer@ohny.org.
OHNY Weekend
What is OHNY Weekend?
Launched in 2003, Open House New York Weekend is an annual festival that opens hundreds of noteworthy or significant places across the five boroughs for free public access.
What is an OHNY Weekend Volunteer?
Each year, more than 1,200 dedicated New Yorkers volunteer to welcome, greet, and guide tens of thousands of OHNY Weekend participants at notable locations across the city.
By helping to open buildings and experiences not normally available to the public, OHNY Volunteers promote a deeper understanding of how the city works, encourage civic participation, and meet other curious New Yorkers.
Volunteer Registration for Open House New York Weekend 2024 will open soon! Stay tuned for more details.
What do OHNY Weekend Volunteers do?
OHNY Weekend Volunteers serve as the public face of OHNY by greeting guests, assisting with check-in, managing lines, and providing information about OHNY Weekend. Volunteer shifts usually last about four hours and take place at one location, and Volunteers have the option to help out on one or both days of OHNY Weekend.
If you are unable to volunteer in person, OHNY also has opportunities for volunteer assistance with virtual programming.
District Coordinators
A core group of experienced, highly dedicated Volunteers work throughout the entire OHNY Weekend as District Coordinators, and serve as the main point of contact between Weekend Partners and Volunteers.
District Coordinators are each assigned a District based on where Weekend experiences are geographically located, and work closely with Site Partners and Volunteers within that District to handle difficult or unexpected situations that arise and ensure programs run smoothly. District Coordinators are required to have at least 5 years of experience as an OHNY Weekend Volunteer.
OHNY taps into the passion and experience of District Coordinators by seeking their input on year-round outreach and programming.
For more information, please email volunteer@ohny.org.
Year-Round Volunteer Opportunities
Programs & Special Events
Throughout the year, OHNY hosts tours, talks, open studios, and social gatherings to introduce new developments and notable scholarship and promote a greater understanding of and discussion about the urban systems that underpin the city’s operation. We often seek volunteer assistance with greeting, participant check-in, and tour group management at these events.
Indicate your interest in year-round volunteering on the Weekend Volunteer registration form.
Special Skills
OHNY periodically seeks volunteer assistance with photography, social media, website updates, administrative tasks, research, and data entry, especially as OHNY Weekend approaches. If this is part of your skillset and you would like to volunteer in this capacity, we encourage you indicate that on theWeekend Volunteer Registration form.
Our Community
We are extremely proud to have fostered a community of Volunteers who have maintained a multi-year commitment to OHNY! To celebrate their achievements, Volunteers who have participated in 5, 10, or 15+ OHNY Weekends are listed below:
20 +
Mary Farrell
Susan Katz
15 +
Mary Farrell
Susan Katz
Hal Eskenazi
Ellis Farmer
Kristina Farmer
Connie Finstad
Bob Gelber
Paul Herther
Robert Ho
Kimberly Jackson
Margot Jacqz
Ethan Lercher
Stephen Mack
Sue Ling Mark
Agatha Melvin
Beth Neuman
Olga Piantieri
Michael Roque
Leah Strigler
Bill Thompson
Barbara Torney
Fiona Torres
10 +
Jean Andrews
Sang Yul Bae
Nina Barucco
Daphne Bell
Sharon Bermon
Elena Bloom
Ina Bloom
Ester Carballo-Jane
Ella Cardon
Anthony Cartelli
Eugenia Chaplin
Judy Chen
Nina Clasen
Judy Claybourne
Donna Cohen
Janet David
Cheree Dillon
Audrey Drillich
Karen Eckhoff
Claire Edwards
Tatyana Epstein
Janette Farragher
Jacob Ford
Ken Frenkel
Ethel Gardner
Meredith Gardner
Patricia Garland
Moses Gates
Rachel Gellman
Joseph Giargiana
Joe Gioco
Patricia Girardi
Ruth Gold
Stanley Goldberg
Darrell Goode
Phyllis Goodfriend
Maura Graziano
Sheila Greenberg
Clinton Greiner
Dorothy Guild
Arleen Gunzburg
Beth Haines
George Hall
Karyssa Halstead
Randy Hans
Elisa Hertz
Michael Hirsch
Anthony Hussey
Paul Jansen
Paola Jordan
Katie Killary
Anthony Kratunis
Alicia Kubes
Joseph Kulhanek
Alfred Kurchin
Helena Lai
Meredith Lewin
Virginia Liebowitz
Kenneth Lin
Sy Lukin
Tama Lukin
Trudy Marchand
Arlene Matlick
Michelle Matteson
Katie McManus
Ben Meyer
Patrick Montlary
Leigh Montville
Robert Moore
Gloria Neimark
Joy Palevsky
Charlotte Pao
Cheryl Patterson-Zaic
Myrna Payne
Inna Penek
Connie Perry
Maggie Portis
Richard Post
Brian Pozun
Natalia Ramirez
Pilar Ramirez
Kenneth Reid
Ann Reilly
Joan Reilly
Cindy Riley
Linda Roccos
Gilbert Rodriguez
Norma Rosenthal
Minna Scharff
Marta Schlitzer
Debra Scotti
Wendy Shlensky
Laralu Smith
Carmen Soubriet
Roger Torda
Carl Tyndall
Debbie Ullman
Jean Vertefeuille
Bernard Wides
Christina Williams
Ellen Wolff
Kent Young
Gregory Zaic
Diana Zuluaga
5+
Deborah Abel
Bob Abelson
Joan Abelson
Kari Adams
Marcia Adams
Peter Adams
Gail Addiss
Tia Adler
Eric Aglow
Gerard Aguis
Eileen Ahearn
Leslie Alexander
Efrain Alvarado
Abigail Amsterdam
Amy Appleton
Edward Atkin
Jordan Auslander
Teresa Ayer
Eric Ball
Justine Banda
Frank Banholzer
Katrina Barnas
Peter Barnes
Grace Jean Barraza
Jennifer Bassetti
Sue Bassetti
Karen Bell
Claire Bellin
Carolyn Benbow
Amanda Bennett
Neil Benowitz
Ari Bergen
Nicholas Bergson-Shilcock
Philip Betheil
John Betters
Jamal Bing
Susan Birnbaum
Jill Blackford
Brandon Blaesser
Duane Blue Spruce
Adam Blumenkrantz
Kenneth Bobetsky
Ellen Bochner
Bob Bodenstein
Edward Bohner
Susan Bopp
Catherine Bradley
Maureen Bratton
Richard Brender
Joseph Broda
Elizabeth Brody
Jennifer Brown
Mary Brownlee
Matthew Brozyna
Kristine Bruch
Rachel Buchanan
Elise Burton
Susan Butterick
Sophie Buttiens
Maryann Byrnes-Alvarado
Jeffrey Calhoun
Teresa Caliari
Rita Callahan
Berclee Cameron
Greg Caputo
Jon Cardon
Kirsty Carroll
Jordan Catalana
Rocco Cetera
Michelle Chai
Bahij Chancey
Hubert Chang
Aaron Chase
Jackie Cheong
Maisa Chiang
Valerie Chicvak
Vincent Chin
Mac Chiulli
Seth Chodosh
Kerry Chrystal
Edwin Cifuentes
Evette Clarke
Heide-Rose Cleary
Megan Clesca
Martha Coe
Marsha Cohen
Robert Cohen
Jeremy Colangelo
Aldyth Coler
Elizabeth Colnaghi
Alice Connorton
Astrid Cook
Thelmo Cordones
Santanna Cowan
Dustin Craven
Sheree Crespo
Lindsay Crozier
Alba Cruz
David Cunningham
Sarah Cunningham
Barbara Curry
Jack Darcey
Joan Davidson
Ashley Davis
Lilyan Deangelis
Megan Dempsey
Scott Devine
Nancy DiFrancesco
Ciara DiSeta
Peter Dispensa
Katy Dobbs
Kimber Domke
Bree Donnelly
Allison Donolli-Lamorte
Joann Doria
Richard Drezen
Christopher Duran
Victoria Dyadyukh
Patricia Dyett
Phyllis Eckhaus
Michael Eginton
Saul Ehrlich
Elizabeth Eiser
Ellen Elkins
Muriel Ellenport
Alexandra Ellis
Richard Elrauch
Amber Eng
Petrina Engelke
Elizabeth English
David Erickson
Alexander Ermak
Edward Ertle
Robert Evans
Polina Ezrokh
Wendy Felton
Brian Findley
Colleen Flett
Seth Flicker
Aaron Foley
Denise Foley
Antonio Fong
Sandy Foutz
Melissa Friedman
Philip Friedman
Craig Fuller
Anna Gago
Katie Garde
Mark Gardner
Diana Garrett
Sabrina Gates
Jane Geller
Erik George
Caroline Gerkis
Sarah Glaser
Aleksandra Gofman
Carol Goldberg
Sharon Goldberg
Susan Goldman
Ivy Goodman
William Gordon
Bridget Gramling
Roswitha Graser
Elizabeth Green
Tiffanie Green
Naomi Greene
Matthew Greer
Yvonne Griffith
Patricia Guida
Deborah Gul Haffner
Diane Gunther
Suzanne Gurney
Alyssa Haak
Betty Haber
Kathleen Hachmeyer
Diane Hadel-Bobetsky
Victoria Haffner
Sarah Hahn
Ronnye Halpern
Marilyn Hannum
Marianne Hart
Pavla Havirova
Jeanne Hegner
Ben Helmer
Karen Hester
Charlene Hill
David Hogarty
Eric Hollander
Edward Holtzmann
Jennifer Hoppen
Jacob Horn
Jill Horn
Kathleen Horton
Randalle Hughes
Daniel Hui
Gregory Hunt
Kyle Innes
Vanessa Ip
Elizabeth Jaffe
Candice James-Selander
Ethel Jatlowsky
Jason Jeanjaquet
Jacqueline Jeffrey
Barbara Jiang
Nancy Johnson
Ted Johnson
Alexandra Johnston
Kathy Jolowicz
Gregory Jones
Judy Jones
Kevin Josephson
Coco Kanakis
Jenny Kane
Deborah Kapell
Nancy Karg
Ruth Kassanga
Heidi Katterhenry
Arthur Katz
Ursula Kay
Edith Kealey
Patrick Kellogg
Randall Kellogg
John Kelly
Karen Kennedy
Nathan Kensinger
Drew Kerr
Renee Kessinger
Andrew Kile
Steven Kirkpatrick
Marien Klushin
Kevin Kochel
Susanne Koster
Richard Kressler
Haeran Ku
Adriana Kubes
Alice La-brie
Eva Lam
Robert Lamphier
Samantha Langer
Nicole Lau
Eilene Lauer
Ron Lauer
Serena Lavine
Jacqueline Leduc Estrada
Carolyn Lee
Nicole Lee
Tiffany Lee
Nicolas Lemery Nantel
Jennifer Lerud
Elinor Levin
Roberta Levine
Sara Levine
David Li
Catie Liken
Andrea Lillo
Kimberly Lin
Yi-ching Lin
Alexandra Lind
Stanley Linker
Wendi Liu
Marie Logiudice
David Long
Juliette Lopin
Patricia Lozano Quintana
Karen Lubitz
Lauren Lucchesi
Xuan Luo
Joan Lurie
Eric Lustig
Lori Lustig
Susan Lustig
Tobias Lustig
George Lutz
Jayne Lynch
Amritha Mahesh
Christine Mahoney
Ruben Maldonado
Judy Mann
Santa Martin
Monica Marulanda
Kara Maser
Sandra Mateo
Mary Matuszak
Brenda McCall
Rhiannon McClintock
Gwynne Mccue
Jennifer McGarrity
Nancy Mcgraw
Sandra McKee
Lonnie Mckenzie
Lauren Mclaughlin
Arlene Mehlman
Maritza Mejia
Christian Melendez
Leila Meltzer
Sharon Meyer
Lynn Michaels
Daniel Millstone
Kenneth Miraski
Vasudha Mittal
Jessy Miyasato
Michael Morelli
Linda Morgan
Tom Morris
William Morris
Carol Morry
Gail Morse
M J Morton
Golrokh Mosayebi
Vernon Moy
Svetlana Mudrik
June Muller
Anja Murke
Kelly Murphy
Kathleen Murray
Dmitry Naidionov
Bindu Nair
Kettly Nau
Nancy Nguyen Watiker
Gaby Niemeier
Philip O’Brien
Katherine O’Kelly
Chris O’Neil
Matt Obeid
Barbara Odwak
Mary Ogorzaly
Barbara Oldham
David Oldham
Joan Palermo
Ming Pan
Christine Pao
Marilyn Papas
Lisa Park
Diane Patrick
Marion Pearce
Samantha Peek
Rodolfo Perez
Sara Perkins
Josef Pinlac
Helena Pires
Michelle Pizzimenti
Randy Plemel
Katherine Popoff
Aya Port
Robert Posch
Carole Post
Carol Poticny
Andy Poulos
Alexandra Preziosi
Jesse Pringle
Trish Proto
Sylvia Pryce
Eric Quick
Lavana Ragavan
Kate Reggev
Wendy Reilly
Ruth Rennert
Jack Richards
Rob Rinderman
Laura Rivas
Kathy Robatel
Nicolas Robatel
Peter Robbins
Seth Robbins
Mary Magdalene Roberts
Eric Robinson
Lois Robinson
Suzanne Rockman
Kathleen Rogers McInerney
Jennifer Romeo
Patricia Romeu
Jonathan Rose
Ira Rosen
Susan Rosen
Dennis Rosenthal
Sylvia Rosu
Rachel Roth
Ron Roth
Sandy Roth
Marian Rothstein
Margit Rott
Judith Rubenstein
Christina Rubin
Karlease Ruddock
Erika Rupinski
Courtney Ryan
Judith Ryan
Maria Ryden
Abir Sabet
Julia Sahin
Suchi Sanagavarapu
Arlene Sandler
Herbert Sandler
Nandan Sawant
Francie Scanlon
Bruce Schiller
Joan Schiller
Alexander Schkrutz
Alan Schlesinger
Lenore Schlossberg
Emily Schmidt
Martin Schneit
Erik Schryver
Barry Schulman
Kari Scuglik
Phyllis A Sears
Nadia Severina
Phyllis Shanley
Carol Shapiro
Alex Shaurette
Jacqueline Shaw
Annette Shear
Jessica Sheridan
Svetlana Sheynina
Rosalie Shields
Terry Shtob
Amy Shulman
Karolyn Silver
Nina Skriloff
Lory Skwerer
Joe Smith
Patrick Smith
Eric Sollien
Fidencia Solomon
Michelle Somers
Jen Spano
Ashley Spatafore
Ralph Spielman
Katherine St. John
Elsie St. Leger
Anna Stancioff
Elaine Stanley
Janet Stark
Catherine Stein
Johanna Sterbin
Karol Stonger
Jason Sudik
Karen Sullivan
Kathy Sullivan
Lois Surmacewicz
Stephen Symbolik
Marc Sznajderman
Marivic Tagala
Iris Talesnick
Mary Tao
Harriette Tax
Francisca Tayag
Nancy Tepper
Margot Tohn
Judi Tolnai
Harry Tom
Jim Tormey
Janice Tsao
Deborah Unger
Odette Veneziano
Christian Jay Villanueva
Linda Visser
Laura Wagner
June Wai
Megan Walsh
Hua Wang
Stacie Wax
KC Weakley
Joy Weeeng
Sylvia Weiner
Joan Weingarten
Mark Weinstein
Roberta Weiss
Mike Weyand
Karl White
Tamara Whitehouse
Jacqueline Williams
Katherine Winkleman
Jane Woodbridge
Jolie Woodson
Carolyn Worstell
Jessie Yan
Pia Yasay
Allan Yashin
Emily Yip
Catherine Young
Ingrid Young
Kathryn Yu
Donna Zelle
Christina Ziegler-McPherson
If you have questions about your Volunteer tenure, please email us at volunteer@ohny.org.