Originally Posted by
sweetana3
Our Museum of Art was previously free with donation accepted. Anyone of any income level could come. Now there is an $18 ticket fee with a reduced cost for children. They don't show it right up front but you have to dig for the cost. Exchanges are hard.
They do have an "access program" for those on food stamps, Hoosier Healthwise, and Temporary Assistance which has to be applied for and is $2 per family member per visit. This is a program for many of the museums and attractions in the city. But it is complex to navigate. And there are specific groups such as, college students, students on assignment, current military, etc. who can come in for free or reduced cost.
Just found another article that quoted an employee of the AI that new positions would be created that are part time and pay $25 an hour. But with the following requirements, how are they going to find such part time people:
Quoted from article:Here are some facts you should know about the docents. They’re unpaid volunteers: not just any volunteers, but highly skilled and well-trained volunteers. According to the docents’ committee letter to AIC President James Rondeau, each docent had to undergo “eighteen months of twice-a-week training to qualify as a docent.”
In addition, they had to have “five years of continual research and writing to meet the criteria of 13 museum content areas, and monthly and bi-weekly training to further educate ourselves with the materials, processes, and cultural context of the AIC’s 300,000 works of art.” On average, each docent had 15 years of experience in “training, research, collaboration, and facilitating the highest-quality tours worthy of an AIC program.”
The AIC docent corps existed for six decades. They helped make every visit to this world-class institute a memorable experience. Besides offering highly informed and tailored tours to students and visitors, the docents did research projects, published papers, and organized lectures.
They also raised money to fund scholarships and art programs for students, and specifically reached out to “students with special access needs.” At the time they were terminated, the docent corps consisted of 82 active docents and 40 school group greeters.
In recent years, AIC and the docent corps have tried to recruit people of varied skin colors to become docents but apparently haven’t been successful enough for the institute’s leadership. The intense time commitment, the amount of knowledge and training required to do the job well, and the fact that this is an unpaid volunteer position, mean that being a docent is not suitable or desirable for everyone. Not surprisingly, many of AIC’s docents have been older white women who love art, have the time to be trained, and can afford to work for free.
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