Kimberly,
I agree with Annmarie, impersonator is a very poorly chosen word and
definitely will rub many people the wrong way. Interpreter (character,
first-person, or third-person) or re-enactor are preferable. (Keep in mind
there are differences between re-enactors and interpreters in some cases.
That however is another discussion.) At our museum, we prefer to call all
staff (volunteer or paid) interpreters. We have a volunteer militia group
and they are referred to as re-enactors. In our case we do not hire
interpreters outside of our organization, unless they are coming for a special
presentation, and then we apply travel expenses and an honorarium. All of
our volunteer interpreters must go through our
museum training. We typically do this once a year, but we do not turn
down a good volunteer if they have missed the formal training
session. All interpretive volunteers must
also present their character for a staff only peer review. Incidentally,
paid staff undergoes this same process when developing a new character or
program. We do not provide clothing to volunteer character
interpreters. This is the responsibility of the individual. The
reviewal of their clothing is part of the overall process of acceptance
into the volunteer character program. Volunteer interpreters must
adhere to the same standards as staff in terms of appearance. We have
materials that are given to volunteers which provide guidelines in this
area. Our volunteer militia is different; they are an entity all of their
own. This is the only group that loosely represents our museum in other
programs. I use the term "loosely" since they share our name and are
affiliated with our museum, but have their own governing board, etc. The
group has been in existence for decades and has always done a fine job of
representing the museum abroad.
I'd be happy to answer any further
questions you may have and hope this is helpful information for
you.
Regards,
Susan
Susan B. Zickel
Interpretive
Programs Coordinator
Historic St. Mary's City
P.O. Box 39
St. Mary's
City, MD 20686
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