Docents

To support audience development, the Education Department presents training programs for docents. The goal of the program is to have a corps of well-trained Docents who provide a daily menu of exemplary tour options for our visitors in all venues and to deliver those tours as scheduled. Training is modular, providing more versatile means for candidates to receive specific venue training in all three venues of the Ringling Collection. As needed, Docents will be recruited to learn tours for the Museum of Art, Ca d’Zan Mansion, and the Circus Museum.  Additional specialty training is presented for Accessibility Docents who deliver targeted tours for individuals with visual, mobility and hearing impairments and for School Docents who focus on school and school age children. 

Curators, guest presenters, and Education Division staff deliver regularly scheduled continuing education trainings for both experienced and new Docents that target the collection and the special exhibitions. A significant commitment is required to be a docent, and they are continuously fed the most up to date information on the Collections and on current methods of delivering information to our audiences. 

This program is supported in part with funds provided by the Docent Memorial Fund and the Dorothy Ellin Endowment.