There is much learning and fun to be gained at the National Docent Symposium in Montreal, Quebec, October 12-15, 2017!

Fran Bleviss,National Docent Symposium Council Director for Eastern Canada (and AGO Gallery Guide) explains: It’s an opportunity to meet 400+ docents, art educators, staff from museums/galleries of Art, Science, and History from all over North America, and enjoy Break-out sessions on many topics, all available at nds2017.com

Topics cover every aspect of volunteering in museums and galleries, including designing high energy tours, questioning skills for more interactive engagement, online tools for information sharing; teen docents; STEAM (science/technology/engineering/art/math) tours, and lots more!

Apart from enjoying Montreal in its 375th anniversary year, Pre-Symposium Tours and Off-site Workshops have much to offer, such as visits to private collections, historic locations in Quebec, and galleries and museums other than The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, host of the Symposium.

Of note: Mary Rochon, AGO Gallery Guide, will present an informative Breakout Session.  “Providing Access to Visual Art for People Without Sight” allows special visitors to see art through another’s eyes. The program also examines how the process enhances a sighted person’s ability to “look to really see” a work of art. Docent techniques and approaches for this visual art tour will be explored further through interactive role-playing. Mary plans to have “sighted” participants describe an artwork to “non-sighted’ partners, then have the non-sighted explore their sighted partner’s face and describe how they would create a sculpture of it.  We look forward to reporting on how it goes over!

There is still time to register, but space is limited. Please check nds2017.com for all the information you’ll need, as well as for the registration process.

Hope to see you in Montreal!