EAST LANSING, MI.- For over 25 years, Kresge Art Museum docents have provided school children, MSU students, visitors and senior center with docent-led tours. In September of 2007, KAM will offer a new training class for those who would like to become docents at KAM, and subsequently at the new Eli and Edythe Broad Museum of Art.

This is an exciting time for KAM docents — on June 1, 2007, MSU announced that MSU Alumni Eli Broad and his wife Edythe donated 26 million dollars to fund a new art museum. Current KAM docents are thinking about the museum’s future and upcoming touring opportunities.

“The new museum will provide some of the most exciting challenges to the museum docents yet. The new class will be the first to tour in the new expanded space with doors that invite entrance from the campus and the community, first to tour much more of the permanent collection that has not been on display for some time (or ever), and the first to tour the new acquisitions that will be made possible by Eli and Edythe Broad’s generous gift. The new museum will open vistas of learning and service for all docents far beyond what is possible in our current situation.”KAM Docent President, Suzanne Brouse.

The docent program’s goal is to provide visitors with exciting and engaging experiences. With the opening of the Eli and Edythe Broad Museum of Art in 2010, docents will generate new insight and understanding of the arts. Each year over 2500 K-12 students visit the museum accompanied by the docents who tour them through our permanent and changing exhibits. This award winning program is known for working closely with schools and teachers to enhance their curriculum and individual goals.

If you have a passion for art, a desire to learn about art history, love to work with people, and want to stretch your imagination as well as the imagination of others, contact the museum for this unique volunteer opportunity. The docent training class is a nine-month training course featuring art history and tour techniques with a special emphasis on the museum’s permanent collection.

For additional information and an application form for the Kresge Art Museum Docent Training Program, please contact Cari Wolfe , Assistant Education Curator at 517/353-9834 or wolfeca1@msu.edu. For more information about the museum visit www.artmuseum.msu.edu.