Skip to main content
We don’t know anything about art, but we know what we like: a story that gets readers talking. And we received plenty of opinions regarding our dispatch from the Portland Art Museum, where longtime docents—many of them senior white women—are making way, with various degrees of willingness, for a younger group of student guides from other backgrounds (“Do the Docent Thing,” WW, Oct. 4). That shift hits a number of hot buttons around representation, diversity and especially age. Here’s what our readers had to say:
_oaktea_, via Reddit: “This is 100% about optics. I really wish they would have worked harder on integrating the docents with the new paid volunteer system—both the docents and the volunteer PSU students would have a lot to learn from each other. “
Art, and art history, is all about humans communicating their experiences and their ideas. I feel like PAM just ditched a passionate source of experience and knowledge. It’s not to say that the new source can’t contribute as well, but I think the museum and the community it serves will suffer because of this decision.”
Vikki Araiza, via Facebook: “I don’t see why they can’t do both. Older women regardless of race have a lot to offer and maybe if they paid everyone instead of just the students, they could learn from each other. This screams throwing out the baby with the bathwater.”
Big Biscuit, via wweek.com: “What idiot organization doesn’t want experienced, passionate volunteers no matter their age? I guess we will be reading an article in a couple of years about the museum losing money with one of the reasons being higher labor costs.”
Nina Johnson, via Facebook: “If you read the article, they are replacing the volunteer docents with paid positions. One of the huge barriers for diversifying any position is asking people to do it for free vs. paying them. This change, to paid positions, will allow a wider group of people who formerly were interested, but who literally couldn’t afford to take the job, to share their expertise with the museum visitors. This allows for a greater diversity in class, as well as race. I know that I couldn’t afford to work volunteer positions for a large part of my life, simply because I couldn’t afford it. This is a positive change, despite how it’s being framed here. There are still tons of volunteer opportunities in the arts around town and at the museum.”
WheeblesWobble, via Reddit: “I approve of having retired art teachers leading tours. I also approve of tour leaders who can understand from a firsthand perspective the motivations of the minority artists whose work is being shown. We need the latter, but maybe we don’t have to turn the former into coat-check clerks in order to achieve that.
“Competing moral imperatives are annoying.”
Inga Andersdottir, via wweek.com: “I would love to see PAM make their docent staff more diverse by actually doing the work to bring in older, retired Black and Latine people. They have done nothing in this direction. This is ageism more than it is anything else. If it weren’t, then they’d be trying to bring in diversity in ALL age groups.”
Marlo Urbina, via Facebook: “I understand that some folks who don’t have to work into their retirement age want to volunteer and that’s an admirable quality BUT I want folks to shake off the mantle of privilege and see that leading a museum tour is not the most pressing needs our society has. Let the young artists who need to build a résumé do this type of work. There are so many needs out in our community for a mature reliable volunteer!!! True desperate needs.”
Mirstrong, via Reddit: “PAM has an upcoming exhibit about music posters from the 1960s. Would be nice to have a docent whose ‘lived experiences’ included actually being alive in the 1960s.”
LETTERS to the editor must include the author’s street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words. Submit to: P.O. Box 10770, Portland, OR 97296 Email: mzusman@wweek.com