National Docents Symposium Council
Dedicated to providing an ongoing forum for docent education and the exchange of ideas since 1981
- About Us
- Mission Statement
- Insight from the Council
- Council Members
- Officers
- Former Council Members
- Symposium Co-Chairs
- Regional Directors
- Ellen Lautz, Mid Atlantic
- David Winton, Canada West
- Shelagh Barrington, Canada East
- Michelle Carpenter, Western
- Sheila Vidmar, Director at Large
- Bryan Brooks, Southeast
- Eric Timmreck, Mountain Plains
- Fran Megarry, Midwest
- Barbara Baker, Western Canadian Region
- Linda Oidtmann, New England
- Karen Fried, Mountain-Plains
- Julie Leonard, Midwest Region
- Jan Thorman, Mid-Atlantic
- Claire Lyon, New England
- Renee Reese, Director at Large
- Hazel Peach, Director at Large
- Adele Visaggio, Southeast Region
- Fran Bleviss, Eastern Canadian Region
- Advisors
- Organization
- History of the Council
- Our Logo
- NDSC Council Information
- Docents in Action Image Gallery
- Council in Action Image Gallery
- Symposia
- Symposia Description
- Spotlight on D.C. 2019
- Hosting a Symposium
- Education Grants
- Breakout Sessions
- School Touring
- Turn Up the HEAT, A STEAM Tour Program (2017 Montreal)
- Workshop: Curriculum - Based Gallery Activities (2017 Montreal)
- Art and Selfie: Addressing Identity Through Art - Grades 6-12 (2017 Montreal)
- Awakening Curiosity and Building Museum Literacy (2017 Montreal)
- Artful Literacy: Communicating, Writing, and Reading About Art (2017 Montreal)
- Tried and True Strategies for Promoting Positive Behavior During Tours (2017 Montreal)
- Ancient Engineers to Modern Innovations: A STE(A)M Experience for Middle to High School Students (2017 Montreal)
- Expanding Young Minds Through the Power of Art (2015 Cincinnati)
- Creativity and the Common Core: Ideas and activities for school tours (2015 Cincinnati)
- Collaborative process for creating a writing / sketching school program (2015 Cincinnati)
- Student-Designed/Docent-Aligned Tour (2013 SF)
- Creating Innovative School Programs (2013 San Francisco)
- Art Education and Technology: How to Connect, Collaborate, and Inspire (2013 SF)
- A Training Program for Stepping Up Effective Docent Engagement with Youth (2013 SF)
- Audience Engagement
- Whose Tour is This, Anyway? Creating an Audience-Centered Gallery Experience (2017 Montreal)
- Touring Strategies for Challenging Art (2017 Montreal)
- Frameworks and the Decorative Arts: A Strategy for Organizing Docent-led Tours (2017 Montreal)
- Strategies for Facilitating Visual Literacy and Audience Engagement (2017 Montreal)
- Hit Docent Refresh Button for High-Energy Tours (2017 Montreal)
- Holy Emojis – Talk to Me 2017 (Montreal)
- Rules of Engagement: Best Practices (2013 SF)
- The Museum as Muse: Connecting with New Audiences (2013 SF)
- Supporting Change: The Docent's Role (2013 SF)
- Experiencing Art through Hands-On Objects (2013 SF)
- Dalí in the Details: Successful Strategies for Refreshing Tours from a Dalínian Perspective (2013 SF)
- Touring Specialty Populations
- How to Create, Maintain and Improve Multisensory Tours for the Visually Impaired (2017 Montreal)
- Living History at the Château Ramezay Museum and Historic Site of Montreal (2017 Montreal)
- Maud Lewis:Finding the Magic in Her Story and in Her Art (2017 Montreal)
- Creative Explorers: A Creative Thinking Tour for 3-to-5-Year-Olds (2017 Montreal)
- Honoring the Warriors: Tours for Veterans (2017 Montreal)
- When Gallery = Community (2017 Montreal)
- Providing Access to Visual Art for People Without Sight (2017 Montreal)
- Off the Wall - An Interactive Art/Writing/Drama Program (2015 Cincinnati)
- The Senses are Alive: Touring Adults with Memory Loss (2015 Cincinnati)
- Bringing Furniture to Life (2015 Cincinnati)
- The Art of Seeing Art: Engaging with Visual Literacy in an Art Museum (2015 Cincinnati)
- Tactile Tables: From Services for the Visually Impaired to Access for All (2015 Cincinatti)
- Reaching "Outside the Lines": Community Outreach (2015 Cincinnati)
- Pen to Palette: Community Outreach Program Uniting Literature with Art (2015 Cincinnati)
- Home School Tours: Formulating a new approach (2015 Cincinnati)
- Engaging through touch: tours for the visually impaired (2015 Cincinnati)
- Talks on the Dot: Bridging the gap for the tour averse (2015 Cincinnati)
- STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (2015 Cincinnati)
- Recruitment, Training, Review
- "What If I Told You?" - Docents Educating Docents (Montreal 2017)
- Tools for Effective Communication in the Docent Community (2017 Montreal)
- Docents Without Walls: Using Online Tools to Share Notes, Resources, and Collection Training Information (2017 Montreal)
- Maintaining Excellence in the Docent Corps (2017 Montreal)
- Docents of DuSable Museum: Training and Thriving (2015 Cincinnati)
- Transformation: Rethinking an Existing Docent Program (2015 Cincinnati)
- Mentorship as a Key to Successful Docent Training (2015 Cincinnati)
- Online Docent Training: Is it for Everyone? (2015 Cincinnati)
- Maintaining Quality Through Peer Evaluations (2015 Cincinnati)
- Technology
- How Docents go Digital: Success Stories (2015 Cincinnati)
- A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Capturing and Recording Legacy Stories (2015 Cincinnati)
- Transforming Visitor Experiences: A Blueprint for iPad Success (2015 Cincinnati)
- The Docent Toolbox—Using Technology for Change (2013 SF)
- iPad, Do You? A Plan for Implementing iPad Use on Tours (2013 SF)
- Hurdles Big and Small: Building a Docent Website from the Museum Floor Up (2013 SF)
- Docent Web: An Online Resource Center for Docents (2013 SF)
- Addressing Docent Needs: Easier and Better Communication through Technology(2013 SF)
- Art Education and Technology: How to Connect, Collaborate, and Inspire (2013 SF)
- An Interactive Docent Website that Does It All! (2013 SF)
- Other Docent Activities
- School Touring
- Showcase of Ideas
- Guest Speakers
- Photo Albums
- Handbook
- Resources
- Interchange Articles
- Building Empathy Through Art
- Inclusion at the Art Gallery of Ontario
- Inclusion and Diversity: Two Museums in the Heart of Los Angeles
- Museum Tours for Students who have Autism
- Creating Cultural Contexts
- Accessibility and Inclusivity Forum
- Tours for Very Young Audiences
- The Changing Population of My City
- A Docent Corps Story of Diversity, Inclusion & Retention @ the High Museum of Art
- Sharing Authority: Creating Inclusive Dialogue in the Museum
- More Docent News
- Traveling Docents
- A Docent Travels to the Motherland, Dakar, Senegal
- Enrichment through Travel: A Cultural Journey to the Nass and Skeena Valleys of British Columbia
- Adventures on a Rainy Day in St. Petersburg, Russia
- A Five-Star LA Art Trip
- A Summer Visit to Calgary, Alberta
- A Visit to the Iran National Museum, Tehran
- Be a Contributor
- A Docent in Doha
- Slow Art in Venice
- The Docent Handbook
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Recommended Website Links
- Book & Movie Recommendations
- Recommended Museum Education Books
- Who's Afraid of Contemporary Art?
- The Muralist by B. J. Shapiro
- Book Review: Visual Intelligence
- Reductionism in Art and Brain Science
- Restless Ambition: Grace Hartigan, Painter
- Andrew Wyeth
- Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis
- Site Map
- Interchange Articles
- Contact Us
- Next Symposium
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NDS 2019 Washington D.C.
October 24 - 27, 2019
NDS 2019 has issued a call for workshop and poster session presenters. Find out more here.
