Get Involved
This Place Only Works If You Show Up
The Taylor-Grady House belongs to Athens. Not just legally — the County owns the building — but in the way that matters: this place only works if people show up, shape it, and claim it as their own. That is not a slogan. It is how we operate.
There are a lot of ways to be part of what happens here. Some take an hour a week. Some start with a single conversation. All of them begin the same way — with you deciding this place is worth your time.
Volunteer
Some of the most important work at the Taylor-Grady House happens without a program name attached to it. A porch host who greets visitors on Wednesdays. A docent who tells the house’s story — the full story — to someone hearing it for the first time. A pair of hands in the garden. Someone who shows up early to set chairs in a circle and stays late to put them back.
Volunteering here is not about filling a shift. It is about becoming part of how the house works. We will match what you are good at with what we need, and we will respect your time the way we would want ours respected.
If you have a few hours and the inclination, we would love to hear from you.
Propose a Program
We do not build programs in a back office and announce them to the community. The best ideas for what should happen at the Taylor-Grady House come from the people who live here — in Athens, in this neighborhood, in the communities that know what they need better than any board or staff member could guess.
If there is something you want to see happen at this house — a class, a gathering, a series, a tradition, a practice — we want to hear about it. Not a vague suggestion. Tell us what it looks like. Who shows up. Why it matters. What it would feel like to walk in the door on opening night.
We take every proposal seriously. We will tell you honestly whether we can make it work, and if we can, we will build it with you — not just for you.
Partner with Us
The Taylor-Grady House works best when it works alongside other organizations that care about this community. We partner with nonprofits, schools, businesses, cultural organizations, and civic groups — not as a venue for hire, but as a collaborator with shared purpose.
Partnerships here look different depending on who you are. A local business might sponsor Porch Time refreshments and get their name on a rocking chair. A school district might co-develop a heritage arts curriculum. A nonprofit might find back-office support through our Shared Services Hub. A neighborhood association might host a Safety Saturday through Neighbor to Neighbor.
If your organization’s work touches heritage, education, food, craft, community care, or the civic life of Athens, there is probably something we can build together.
Stay Connected
Not ready to volunteer, propose, or partner — but want to know what is happening? That counts too. Staying in the loop is its own form of showing up.
Follow along on social media or sign up for our newsletter. We will share what is coming up, what just happened, and the occasional story from the porch.
And if none of these feel quite right yet — that is fine. Come sit on the porch first. Wednesdays, eleven to three. See how it feels. Everything else starts there.