As the Rubin Museum’s Docent Coordinator part of my job is to plan and manage Docent schedules each month, facilitate trainings, and organize research materials. Additionally, a very important part of my job is to boost Docent morale, show them support, and ensure that they feel like part of the larger Education team. With this in mind, I always make sure to schedule several field trips for our group throughout the year. This not only gives Docents perspective on other museum educator techniques, but allows them time to bond together as a group.
While most of our field trips are educational and relate in some way to our exhibitions and collection, I find it important to plan at least one trip a year that is purely social, where Docents can “take time to smell the roses.” Our last trip allowed them this both figuratively and literally! On August 23, 2014, a beautiful Saturday morning, we met as a group at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens to take a tour together.
It was nice to get outside the museum walls and walk through all the greenery that the Botanic Gardens have to offer.
Many plants were still in bloom especially many of the roses and flowers in their Rose Garden.
In addition to admiring the roses, we visited the vegetable garden where we were impressed by the size and variety of vegetables. Their signage was well written and accessible for all visitors.
We walked past some greenhouses and towards the lily pond where we saw some lotuses. It was nice to see them in nature as compared to the stylized lotus petals we see around the museum in painting and sculpture.
Many thanks to Lou Cesario, Jeanine Poggioli, and Katherine Patton at Brooklyn Botanic Gardens for facilitating this amazing experience for our team. We hope to visit again soon!
To learn more about the Rubin Museum’s Docent program and other volunteering opportunities, please visit our webpage at http://www.rubinmuseum.org/pages/load/31.