The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) is seeking warm, empathetic, and enthusiastic communicators with teaching, touring, or facilitation experience to join the Docent Program and lead engaging experiences with art for primarily Pre-K-12 students and, on occasion, adults in the Museum.
Working from a strong knowledge of teaching and art history, Docents provide a range of interactive tours for students in grades Pre-K-12 that inspire creativity, foster critical thinking, and explore the human stories of art. Single Pre-K-12 school group tours, such as Highlights and Stories in Art, are our most popular tours, but Docents selected for this class will also be working in the following programs:
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: Close Encounters is a partnership program with Baltimore City Public Schools that supports close looking, creativity, curiosity, and critical thinking skills inspired by the works of art from the BMA collection. In the 2015-2016 school year, fourth grade students from 29 schools will participate in a pre-visit classroom experience, three gallery experiences, and a studio art-making experience. A team of two Docents lead the pre-visit classroom experience and the three gallery experiences. They assist in the studio art-making experience which is led by an experienced teaching artist.
DEVELOPING LANGUAGE AND LITERACY THROUGH THE ARTS (DLLA I and II): DLLA is an early learning program administered by Baltimore County Public Schools. The Docent-led gallery experience is the culmination of a six-to-ten week curriculum unit for Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten students, designed to foster the communication skills of the students through discussions about art. Docents facilitate the final experience, engaging students by helping them draw from their previous knowledge of the artworks and fostering their exploration of the physical objects.
Qualifications
The ideal candidate for this volunteer position will possess:
-Experience in teaching, touring, or facilitation in formal or informal settings
-Experience working with children
-Flexibility, patience, and a positive outlook
-Excellent listening and interpersonal skills
-Commitment to and comfort with conversing with a diverse range of people
-Strong interest in connecting and collaborating with BMA colleagues, visitors, teachers, and fellow Docents
-Openness to learning and applying new teaching approaches and techniques
-Basic comfort level with and regular use of email and the internet
-Ability to conduct independent research on art history and teaching techniques
Commitment
Docents must be able to commit to two years of service that includes the following:
-Intensive training on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays in August and September 2015 (Exact times and dates to be determined)
-Twice-a-month Docent training on Mondays from September through May each year (9:45 am-12 pm)
-Availability for school tours on Wednesdays, Thursdays, or Fridays each week (Between 9:30 am and 1:30 pm)
-Willingness to lead experiences in classrooms in Baltimore City Public Schools as part of the Close Encounters program
-Leading at least 22 school tours and two evening or weekend tours (not limited to school groups), for a minimum of 24 tours each year
-Independent research, study, and preparation
-Enrollment as a BMA Member each year of service
Applications
To apply, please visit the volunteer page of the BMA website.
