VOLUNTEER DOCENT - Seattle Art Museum : Job Details

Application Deadline: Friday, October 18th, 2024

Are you passionate about engaging with diverse youth audiences? Would you like to serve your community through the Seattle Art Museum? Are you interested in learning more about art? If so, please consider volunteering your time as a school-touring docent at SAM.

Purpose : Docents are volunteer gallery educators who facilitate tours for school groups at Seattle Art Museum. Docents are a critical component of SAM's Education Division, supporting our mission to connect art to life.

Duties and Responsibilities

+ Serve as the face of the museum and reflect SAM's community. Docents are welcoming, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable. Docents are committed to building on SAM's work in diversity, equity, and inclusion.

+ Develop gallery education and tour facilitation skills, geared towards a K-12 audience.

+ Engage students of all ages in connecting with art and practicing their own creativity.

+ Complete docent training to lead school tours at SAM from January through March 2025.

+ Shadow and/or lead school tours at SAM one day a week from April through June 2025.

+ Demonstrate cultural competency when giving tours at SAM, thinking critically and creatively about honoring lived experiences and holding space for marginalized voices.

+ Participate in regular training, attend lectures, and access resources related to effective facilitation strategies to ensure tours are engaging and accessible for all.

+ Abide by the terms and policies outlined in SAM's Volunteer Handbook.

Initial Training

Initial training for new docents will take place from January 2025 through March 2025. Training is slated to take place at SAM on select Wednesdays and Thursdays.

New docents should also plan to attend monthly meetings at SAM with the entire docent corps on the second Friday of the month from 10:15am to 12:00pm. After successfully completing training, new docents will shadow and co-lead tours with experienced school tour docents for their first block of touring, which will run from April through June 2025.

Continued Training

Docents have a passion for learning and training does not end once touring begins. In addition to touring, docents commit to attending monthly meetings and quarterly training. Additional opportunities for continuing education are encouraged. Examples include quarterly study groups, occasional lectures, and public programs.

Touring

All touring docents are required to sign up for at least two touring blocks each year (September through August). Touring blocks are typically about 12 weeks in length, during which, docents lead two back-to-back tours once a week, every week. School tours are one hour in length, offered Wednesday through Friday at 10:20am and 11:20am. If you successfully complete your initial training, you will begin touring in April 2025.

Offers of volunteership are contingent upon successful completion of a background check.

Seattle Art Museum (SAM) is committed to ensuring that all employees and volunteers enjoy a respectful, inclusive, and welcoming workplace. SAM is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, creed, color, national origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, honorably discharged veteran or military status, retaliation or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability. The Seattle Art Museum will consider applicants who may need a reasonable accommodation to perform the essential functions/duties. Please contact the Human Resources Department at [email protected] for additional information or to request reasonable accommodations for the application or interview process.

SAM is dedicated to racial equity and strives for employees, volunteers, and interns who are passionate, qualified, and offer diverse perspectives. SAM prioritizes racial equity in the workplace because we know that people of color are the most impacted when it comes to inequities. We are particularly interested in engaging with historically under-represented groups in the museum field as we strive to be inclusive and equitable. SAM is responsive to cultural communities and experiences, and our strategic plan goals address the role art plays in empowering social justice and structural change to promote equity in our society.

We encourage you to submit an application, even if your experience doesn't feel like a 100% match with the position. We know applying for a job can be intimidating, and research tells us that womxn and folks of color are less likely to apply if they don't see themselves meeting every single qualification. We encourage you to apply, even if you feel unsure about whether you meet every requirement in this job post. You could very well be a great fit for this role or others.

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