The National Docent Symposium Council (NDSC) is a North American docent/guide organization that provides continuing education and exchange of ideas for docents and guides. NDSC activities include:
- Sponsoring biennial symposia for the professional development of docents and guides
- Providing an up-to-date interactive website with articles of interest and shared practices for docents, guides and educators
- Hosting an online forum for ongoing issues of importance for docents and museum educators
- Publishing the Docent Handbook
Docents at the Indianapolis Museum of Art organized the first nationwide meeting of docents in 1981; since 1985 the symposium has been held every other year at a museum in the United States or Canada. (The Art Gallery of Ontario hosted in 2009; the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 2017.) The next symposium, originally planned for Kansas City in 2021, has been postponed until the fall of 2022. The Atlanta NDS will take place in 2024 and the Council is currently recruiting for NDS 2026.
NDSC is run by a volunteer board. In addition to its executive, the NDSC has a number of regional directors. The usual format for Canadians is two directors for Eastern Canada and two for Western Canada. Currently, Shelagh Barrington (Friday GG) is the only Director responsible for Canada. Shelagh plans to continue as a Director until the completion of the next symposium in Kansas City 2022.
Going forward, vibrant forward thinking Canadian volunteers need to take up the challenge of connecting and keeping our community current. Could you be one of them? Directors are expected to serve a 4-year term, which includes alternately attending symposia and planning meetings each year, at their own expense. (Because of COVID the Council is becoming well versed in digital connecting.) There are a number of additional ways for Directors to assist the Council; Shelagh is an editor for the web site and Facebook page, among other ways to contribute.
Why become a director? Shelagh answers: “While there is a financial and time commitment, the good news is the NDSC is a great group of educated and dedicated individuals, from all over the USA and Canada, who love what they do.”
If you would like to see what the NDS is all about, please go to the NDS web page which will also connect you to the NDS Facebook and NDS Forum pages. After you have taken a look, if you have any questions please feel free to contact Shelagh at [email protected].