Project Coordinator & GIS Volunteer (A Mid-Century Flowering)

Project Title: The Arts Community of Westport and Weston: A Mid-Century Flowering

Host Organization: Blau House & Gardens

Position Type: Volunteer / Pro-Bono (Ideal for GIS students, remote professionals, or conference attendees looking for a high-impact community heritage project)

Location: Remote / Flexible (Westport/Weston, CT local presence is a plus but not required)

Project Overview

Blau House & Gardens is launching a community-driven initiative to document, map, and celebrate the vibrant mid-20th-century cultural explosion of Westport and Weston, Connecticut. From the artistic legacies of Norman Rockwell and the Famous Artists School to the legendary stages of the Westport Country Playhouse, and the White Barn our towns served as a global creative workshop.

We are in the preliminary research phase of building a living community archive. We need a skilled GIS Volunteer / Project Coordinator to build the technical foundation that will turn public submissions (photos, oral histories, documents) into geographic "digital twins" mapped across our historic landscape.

Scope of Work

The volunteer will design and deploy a public-facing geodatabase using the Esri ArcGIS

Suite. Key responsibilities include:

• • Survey Design: Build and configure an ArcGIS Survey123 form based on our drafted community questionnaire to seamlessly capture public stories, contact info, and file attachments (max 50MB).
  • Geopoint Mapping: Structure the survey to capture spatial data so users can pin historic studios, theaters, social hubs, and landmarks.
  • Living Archive Integration: Build an ArcGIS StoryMap or ArcGIS Instant App that transforms our comprehensive text timeline into an interactive web map.
  • Data Workflows: Set up a clean data management system so project staff can review and approve public submissions before they appear live on the community map.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• • Esri Ecosystem Proficiency: Hands-on experience creating forms in ArcGIS Survey123 and managing multimedia attachments.
  • Web Mapping: Experience designing public-facing applications using ArcGIS StoryMaps or ArcGIS Experience Builder.
  • Data Organization: Ability to structure historical text and coordinates into clean, organized GIS layers.
  • Passion for Heritage: An interest in art history, historic preservation, mid-century architecture, or community storytelling.

What We Provide

• • A structured historical timeline (1886–present) ready for geographic plotting.
  • A fully drafted four-section community questionnaire.
  • Funding backing from the Maximilian E. & Marion O. Hoffman Foundation, Inc.
  • A high-profile showcase for your GIS portfolio at a historic preservation organization.

Project Objectives

• • Document and Map Cultural Heritage: Capture and preserve the mid-20th-century artistic and cultural history of Westport and Weston, Connecticut, by mapping key studios, theaters, social hubs, and landmarks.
  • Engage the Community: Launch the public-facing "Share Your Story" survey to crowdsource oral histories, photographs, and historical documents from the public.
  • Build a Geographic Digital Twin: Create an interactive, living archive that seamlessly connects historical timelines and community submissions directly to their geographic locations.
  • Establish Data Management Standards: Implement a secure content-moderation and validation workflow allowing project staff to review and approve public entries before they go live.

Project Deliverables

• • ArcGIS Survey123 Form: A configured, public-facing digital questionnaire that captures text, spatial geopoints, contact details, and multimedia attachments up to 50MB.
  • Geodatabase & Review Workflow: A structured backend database with a secure administrative data-management pipeline for reviewing, filtering, and approving public submissions.
  • ArcGIS StoryMap / Instant App: A public web mapping application that visualizes the structured 1886–present historical timeline alongside approved community submissions.
  • Interactive Digital Twin: A fully integrated interactive web portal acting as a digital twin of the historic landscape, ready to be showcased at upcoming heritage conferences and portfolio reviews.