Crystal Bridges to Rely Heavily on Volunteers

By Tracie Dungan

Posted: November 5, 2011 at noon

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BENTONVILLE — Like most museums, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art will depend heavily on the work of volunteers.

To the delight of the museum’s volunteer services manager, Jennifer Dunham, residents have applied in great numbers to fill volunteer positions.

“I am so grateful to the community in Northwest Arkansas in being interested and responding to what we’ve put out there,” Dunham said.

The biggest need is for museum guides — volunteers who are stationed throughout the museum and its galleries during operating hours, Dunham said. In addition, volunteer trail guides will accompany visitors on the museum’s network of outdoor nature trails.

As of early October, 931 people had contacted the museum with an interest in volunteering. Of those , 628 filled out applications and specified in which part of the operation they would like to be involved.

Two kinds of volunteers will lead guided tours. They undergo the most intensive training of all Crystal Bridges volunteers.

Gallery guides — also known as docents at some museums around the country — will give regularly scheduled, interactive tours of the artwork displayed inside the museum’s galleries year-round. They will teach visitors about the paintings and sculptures, as well as the museum’s architectural features.

Trail guides will work seasonally, taking museum visitors on regularly scheduled tours of Crystal Bridges’ network of trails. Each trail guide will be a certified master gardener, using this knowledge and other training to teach about the museum grounds’ flora and fauna, sculpture and architecture, while simultaneously getting in the volunteer hours required by the state’s Master Gardener Program.

After information sessions last fall, the museum conducted interviews for the gallery guide positions and chose 64 gallery guide candidates for the training, Dunham said.

It accepted 26 candidates for the trail guide positions, nine of whom already were certified master gardeners and 17 who trained to become master gardeners.

Becoming a master gardener requires a Cooperative Extension Service course and other requirements, such as volunteer hours and continuing-education hours.

People who attended last fall’s information sessions also learned the museum plans other volunteer roles with less-intensive training and time commitments.

These include museum guides who will work much like a hotel concierge, offering general information to visitors, such as tour options and where to find attractions within the museum. There also will be trail surveyors and “hands-on volunteers.”

Since last fall, the list of volunteer opportunities has grown, and Dunham expects it will continue to evolve.

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