Call for Docents: CMA offers new 12-week learning opportunity
January 4, 2013
COLUMBIA, SC – January 4, 2013 – The Columbia Museum of Art announces a new 12-week docent training class on Mondays from 10:00 a.m. – Noon beginning January 28 through April 29.
As the Museum continues to grow, the need for enthusiastic and dedicated docents also increases. Docents volunteer in a variety of ways by leading tours of the CMA collection and traveling exhibitions, providing hands-on instruction in art studio programs for children, representing the CMA during speaker’s bureau engagements and reaching beyond the footprint of the museum building to bring art into the community. The most recent graduates, the class of 2011, proved to be invaluable to the CMA by hosting a new fundraiser, The Trifles, Treasures and Teacakes Sale, which provided additional funding to education programs.
Admittance into the Docent Corps requires completion of this docent training series. This course, led by Museum curators and educators prepares graduate docents to lead eight different school programs and adult group tours by providing them with a strong background of the Museum and of art history.
Being a docent at the Columbia Museum of Art has been a double delight for me. Not only do I get to pursue an ongoing interest in art, which I never had the opportunity to study in school, but I get to do it with interesting and congenial people, many of whom have become good friends, docent Ann Holtschlag said.
Docent Corps members receive all the benefits of a CMA membership, plus have the opportunity to attend special luncheons, participate in trips to cultural institutions and are eligible to attend many lectures and gallery talks with free admission.
Docent Corps Mission
Through continuing education and volunteer service to the Museum, Docents provide the vital educational link with children and adults that enrich the museum experience and instill and support a lifelong appreciation of art.
For more information about Columbia Museum of Art Docent Corps, visit www.columbiamuseum.org.
About the CMA
The Columbia Museum of Art is South Carolina’s premier international art museum and houses a world-class collection of European and American art. Founded in 1950, the Museum opened its new building on Main Street in 1998 with 25 galleries. The collection includes masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, porcelain and works by significant furniture and silver makers, as well as American, Asian, and modern and contemporary art. Of particular interest are Sandro Botticelli’s Nativity, Claude Monet’s The Seine at Giverny, Canaletto’s View of the Molo, a Dale Chihuly chandelier and art glass by Louis Comfort Tiffany. The Museum offers changing exhibitions from renowned museums and educational programs for all ages that include classes, lectures, films and concerts. It is the recipient of a National Art Education Association award for its contributions to arts education and an Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Governor’s Award for the Arts for outstanding contributions to the arts in South Carolina.
