Dear Jenna,
We have gone through this transition. I created the docent program when the museum first opened in 2008. I recruited university students and community members. We had a very successful program but it required 100 % of my time to manage schedules and trainings. The group was divers in backgrounds and age. Many adjustments/ accomodations were made to bridge learning gaps.
The plus side is that we had 22 individuals who were passionate about teaching and about art. The cons were that not everyone wanted to follow best practices and adapt to new strategies as they emerged or as we felt were necessary depending on the audiences.
Students had schedule s that constant changes and because they were volunteers their jobs outside of the museum and school were the drivers of their participation.
Gallery guides are connected to course work, college credits and we now have a few internships for gallery guides that are paid. This is a better model but managing students and teaching them many of the soft skills required in todays work place remain a challenge. Gallery guides are better aligned with the university's mission and vision.
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Miriam Machado
Director of Education
Frost Art Museum
Florida International University
3053481808
Miami FL
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-28-2022 02:27 PM
From: Jenna Madison
Subject: Docents vs. Gallery Guides Research
Hello Museum Colleagues, I am gathering research on docent programs for a contract with an encyclopedic art museum. Specifically, I am looking for case studies and visitor research/data around transitioning from a traditional docent program model to more of a gallery guide approach focusing on visitor engagement (basically doing away with intensive trainings and docent guided Art 101 tours/lectures in the galleries to impromptu conversations centered on best practices for audience engagement.) The museum is hoping to build a case for gallery guides vs. docents in order to create a more inclusive and welcoming in-gallery experience that is audience-centric and to diversify their gallery educator pool. If any of you have gone through this type of transition at your institutions or are about to embark on reimagining your tour program, I would love to hear how you approached the transition, what pain points you encountered, and any visitor research you conducted to support your decision to move away from the traditional docent program model. I have a few articles to draw upon, but if anyone wants to point me in the direction of recent articles or research studies on this topic, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks!
Jenna Madison
Interpretive Specialist/Museum Education Consultant
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Jenna Madison
Asst. Director, Interpretation, Research & Digital Learning
Museum of Modern Art
New York NY
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