Jennifer & Museum-L:

I could have written almost your exact email.  We are also having 
problems convincing volunteers to become docents.  The difference is 
that our younger volunteers aren't college-aged, but most of them are 
20- and 30-somethings who have children as well as multiple volunteer 
commitments.   We are also having trouble getting our volunteers to show 
up to meet their commitments these last few years.  I wish I knew what 
we could do to revitalize the organization and inspire them to step it 
up.  We have a dedicated core of volunteers & docents who work 100+ 
hours a year, but many are either aging out of the ability to do that, 
or their spouses are.   I personally think our Guild of Docents and 
Volunteers is run a little bit too much like the Junior League or a 
sorority, which makes it feel exclusionary to new folks, but there is no 
institutional will to make changes in the social structure.

We find new volunteers by asking current ones to invite possible 
recruits to a membership coffee once a year.  We also make a point of 
inviting local teachers to that coffee after they retire, since they're 
the most likely to be interested in and comfortable with giving tours.

I'm looking forward to hearing from others who have faced this problem 
and, hopefully, found ways to bring in more docents.


-- 
Jill R. Chancey, PhD
Curator
Lauren Rogers Museum of Art
PO Box 1108
Laurel, MS 39440
601-649-6374
[log in to unmask]
www.LRMA.org

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