Mark your calendars! The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art invites docents from across the US and Canada to Kansas City, September 16-19, 2022, to connect with other docents, guides, and museum educators and to be inspired by best practices and new learning. Rescheduled from 2021, the symposium will feature visits to other institutions, a welcome dinner […]

With the days getting warmer and the colours getting brighter, we think there’s no better time to connect and celebrate with our fellow AGO volunteers! As part of National Volunteer Week, the Friday Night Gallery and Info Guide group invite you to our Virtual Spring Tour, via Zoom, happening Wednesday, April 21st, from 6:00pm-7:00pm. Floral/Spring-themed […]

Public Programs and Learning wrapped up 2020 with a third edition of the AGO’s popular online Senior Social video on December 18, featuring Information Guides Charlotte Young-On ( Saturday morning) and Lucie Sparham (Sunday afternoon) . We asked them about their experience making the videos with staff members Doris Purchase, Art Educator, and Lauren McKinley […]

The second installment of the AGO’s online Senior Social premiered on November 20, featuring Tuesday GGs Laurie Herd and Carolyn Roth. We asked them about their experience making the video with staff members Doris Purchase, Art Educator, and Lauren McKinley Renzetti, Art Instructor. You can watch the three-part video featuring works by Mary Hiester Reid […]

Those of you on social media might recognize the How It Started / How It’s Going meme in which people post an image representing a naively optimistic version of themselves , followed by one where life has taken them in a different direction. We’re starting to highlight a similar experience for volunteers, showing what was […]

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 […]

We continue an occasional series of volunteer profiles. This week Shelagh Barrington catches up with the new Lead Guide for Friday Evenings, Breah Sovegjarto. What do you do when you are not here at the AGO volunteering? I do a lot of driving! I live in Niagara Falls and I travel to Toronto specifically to […]

The AGO launched the monthly Seniors Social last November as a new way to engage with visitors. The in-person version included an hour-long themed tour followed by tea and coffee, then an art-making activity based on elements of the tour. (Read the AGO Insider story here.) When the gallery shut down in March, staff quickly […]

Once the City of Toronto announced it was entering Phase 2 of COVID reopening, the AGO quickly readied itself to reopen to the public on July 2. With precautionary measures in place (timed tickets, mandatory masks, limited capacity for each gallery, no bench seating, among others) the AGO welcomed back members and volunteers to explore […]

AGO volunteer Cara-Lynn Nisenbaum shares her thoughts on art during the COVID-19 crisis. As the world begins to open up again, finding peace in the beauty of the lockdown images is a welcome reprieve from the streaming newsfeeds updating us on the global crisis. Cities cleared of their crowds, some of the most populated sites […]