The mission of the National Docent Symposium Council is to promote continuous improvement in docent practice by facilitating communication and collaborative interaction among U.S. and Canadian volunteer docent/guides. This is accomplished through biennial symposia, sales of The Docent Handbook and with our interactive website www.nationaldocents.org.

Sites of the National Docent Symposia

• 1981 Indianapolis Art Museum, Indiana
• 1983 Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin
• 1985 Oakland Museum of California
• 1987 Toledo Art Museum, Ohio
• 1989 National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
• 1991 Denver Art Museum, Colorado
• 1993 High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia
• 1995 Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, California
• 1997 Seattle Art Museum, Washington
• 1999 Philadelphia Art Museum, Pennsylvania
• 2001 McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas
• 2003 The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois
• 2005 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
• 2007 Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona
• 2009 Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada
• 2011 St. Louis Art Museum, Missouri
• 2013 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California
• 2015 Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio
• 2017 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• 2019 Freer Sackler Museums of Asian Art, Washington, DC
• 2021 Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri