“Thank you for your time, patience, flexibility and thoughtfulness. I know we are one school out of the many you work with, but it never felt or feels like that. There are many compelling reasons why we should do docenting at museums that are more local to us. The reason why we don’t is because of the program and facilitation that you provide. As all Yankee fans are saying, ‘I can’t wait ‘till next year.’ ”
-Jon Hirsch, Director, LIFE School at Horace Greeley High School, Chappaqua, New York
Student Docent Program (Grades 5 - 12)
The Student Docent Program is a school program for grades five through twelve, designed to equip students with the skills needed to discover and connect with contemporary art. In essence, the Museum teaches small groups of students from each participating school to lead discussions about contemporary art with their classmates. Led though the exhibition by their peers, students on the tour are more likely to make connections between the work on view and their own experiences.
Fees: $4 per student attending class visit and $150 participation fee. Scholarships are available.
For further information please contact Suzanne Enser-Ryan, seryan@aldrichart.org.
Varsity Docent Program (Grades 9 - 12)
The Varsity Docent Program is The Aldrich Museum's new intensive and highly interactive program for teens. High school students who have twice completed the Student Docent Program, are interested in the arts, like to work in collaboration with your peers, and are willing to commit to monthly meetings, you are eligible to apply. The Varsity Docent Program will offer engagement on the level of an internship, utilizing the students' skills in mentoring situations beyond the Student Docent class tour, and enabling participants to grow educationally in a museum setting. The Varsity Docents will become involved in a variety of the Museum's programs and work with multiple audiences. These experiences, combined with behind-the-scenes involvement and discussion with Museum staff, field trips to New York studios and arts organizations, and workshops with artists, will give students a strong foundational understanding of the public dimension of a museum.
Student Docent Kit
View a slide show illustrating the Student Docent Kit!
Student Docents attend five after-school training sessions with a Museum educator for each exhibition. These training sessions use an inquiry-based approach to teach students the skills needed to decode and analyze a work of art. When training is complete, the Docents use the same approach to engage their classmates in a conversation about the art during a class field trip to the Museum.
The Student Docent Program equips Student Docents and their peers with the skills and confidence necessary to describe, analyze, and interpret visual art. It encourages students to think in new directions about contemporary art and its relationship to their own lives, increases their ability to discover and derive meaning from works of art, and helps them to build their own interpretation of the world around them.
For a detailed publication about the structure, logistics, and benefits of the Student Docent Program, please contact the education department, at 203.438.4519.
The Student Docent Program is made possible, in part, by The Barker Welfare Foundation, Boehringer Ingelheim Cares Foundation, Inc., Newman's Own Foundation, Target, and William Randolph Hearst Foundation.
