Volunteer
Opportunities to Volunteer
Interested in volunteering at the MAM? There are lots of ways to engage!
Docent
Auction
Internships
Missoula Art Museum docents celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Fifth Grade Art Experience, honoring featured artist Stella Nall.Docents
Becoming a docent at the MAM means joining a community of curious, thoughtful volunteers who help bring contemporary art to life. Docents spark conversation, encourage discovery, and help visitors of all ages form personal connections with art—no prior experience required.
Interested in volunteering at MAM? There are several opportunities in education, special events, collections, and more! Please contact gabe@missoulaartmuseum.org.
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A docent is a guide who leads a group on a tour through a museum, encouraging conversations, interpreting meaning, and helping others learn to admire. Docents stay up to date with the artists and exhibits at The Missoula Art Museum (MAM) and can lead tours for groups of all ages through our various programs at MAM. Docents are not expected to be total experts on the material to lead a tour and are instead facilitators of an inquiry-based discussion.
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Anybody can be a docent! No prior experience or training is necessary. The model for a successful docent at MAM is somebody with passions for art, artists, culture, Montana, language, exploring ideas, and/or learning just as much as teaching! MAM is a contemporary art museum, and so our exhibits explore the issues of our time, and our place- Montana. The nature of distilling the ideas of contemporary art to a group is that a successful docent must also be aware that the best tours are more conversational. Docents allow visitors to share their own beliefs and stories, and encourage active participation to promote curiosity and expression.
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Docents are a crucial part of MAM’s operations, and by making the experiences digestible for everybody, MAM’s docents help unpack the gifts of each exhibit for visiting groups. Part of the joy of being a docent is that no two groups or tours will be the same. Adapting as a group indicates their interest in a particular idea or work of art is a skill and joy that keeps our docents engaged just as much as our visitors!
MAM’s docents make up a lively and thoughtful community, and we’d love for you to join!
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Complete the volunteer application and email it to kay@missoulaartmuseum.org, or another member of the Education Team to participate. Attend at least one of the scheduled MAM Docent Trainings, and shadow at least one tour given by an Education Team member. Next, you’ll be shadowed by a member of the education team before you’ll be giving tours on your own.
Be sure to check out our Docent Handbook for more details.
MAM’s docents receive a 10% discount on MAM merchandise, and a one-year membership to MAM for six volunteer hours worked.
Note: This position can involve standing for up to an hour, walking up two or more flights of stairs (we have an elevator as well), and moving through the museum. Accommodations can be arranged.
A Missoula Art Museum docent leads a guided tour of Alaina Buffalo Spirit's exhibition during the Fifth Grade Art Experience.Docents at MAM should consider our core values: Access, Equity, and Engagement.
Access: Absolutely everybody is welcome at MAM free of charge and is entitled to the same opportunities to learn and seek inspiration.
Equity: We acknowledge that museums are not neutral, and we maintain a commitment to diverse representation, perspectives, and dialog to help build a better, more equitableworld. We recognize our obligation to elevate and create space for Indigenous art and artists.
Engagement: We honor the importance of art to a healthy and engaged community, and we seek to leverage the museum space to foster connections between artists and audience, art and ideas, and people, place and culture.
Docent-led Education Programs
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FGAE
The Fifth Grade Art Experience (FGAE) is MAM’s signature education program, welcoming every fifth-grade class in Missoula County and within a 70-mile radius. For many, it’stheir first visit to a contemporary art museum. The program uses inquiry-based tours and hands-on artmaking led by professional artists and trained docents, and each studentleaves with an original work of art and an enduring connection to MAM. After artmaking, students enjoy lunch in the classroom or MAM Art Park before walking to the Missoula Public Library for a tour, storytelling, and the opportunity to sign up for a library card.
FGAE welcomes rural communities and Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal schools through funded transportation, reaching more than 500 additional youth each year. Since its inception, FGAE has served over 50,000 youth, amplifying access to art, creativity, and community connection across Western Montana. MAM is deeply grateful for the Art Associates of Missoula who have generously supported the Fifth Grade Art Experience for 40 years.
Sign up to be docent for FGAE here!
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Art in the Moment
The Art in the Moment program aims to provide therapeutic benefits of processing emotions and sparking associations and memories for anybody experiencing memory loss. This program creates a comforting art viewing and artmaking space for those in the early stages of dementia and their caregivers while fostering a dementia-friendly learning community that brings caregivers and those with dementia together in a creative and relaxed environment. Participants view and interact with artwork on display in small groups, with guidance by a MAM Teaching Artist, education staff, and volunteers. After experiencing art in the galleries, participants work to create original art of their own in the education classroom. This program is offered two Mondays per month, with abreak in February and March. Participants and caretakers join the community as well as individuals from memory care units located in residential retirement communities.
Sign up to be docent for Art in the Moment here!
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Summer Saturday Tours
Summer Saturday tours begin at 1\PM and gather in the lobby. These tours are open to everybody, including drop-ins. Docents or museum staff will explainwhat an inquiry-based tour is, before sharing MAM’s Declaration of Relationships and details about the building’s architecture and exhibitions on display.
Sign up to be a docent for the Saturday Tours here!
Training Materials
Inquiry-Based Approach
MAM’s educational focus is to empower audiences of all ages and abilities to engage with contemporary art and artists. MAM’s education team strongly believes that engaging with contemporary art can open a unique and accessible pathway to learning about current issues and ideas of our time. MAM implements an innovative approach to help audiences connect with contemporary art—using methods of observation and interpretation. Our interpretive strategy is inquiry-based and preferences self-engagement and self-discovery.
Language Guidelines
At MAM we strive to acknowledge and celebrate the diversity of our visitors and students. As a cultural institution, we believe that we must be at the forefront of respectful language-use when communicating with all visitors. Modeling respectful and inclusive language is one way to welcome everyone into the experience of engaging with art. Discussing art without making value judgements is a powerful and gentle teaching tool.
The language guidelines at MAM also include using gender neutral and inclusive pronouns. We cannot assume the age, gender, race, sexuality, or ability of our guests.
MAM staff will read MAM’s Declaration of Relationships prior to the beginning of each tour to recognize the Native land where the museum resides, and the Indigenous or Tribal affiliations of exhibiting artists.