Volunteer Docent

Who We Are Storm King Art Center is a 500-acre outdoor museum located in New York’s Hudson Valley, where visitors experience large-scale sculpture, site-specific commissions, and groundbreaking temporary exhibitions under open sky. Storm King’s unique landscape offers opportunities for the public to experience time outdoors and engage with art in an open and accessible environment, while artists create some of their most ambitious works in conversation with the natural world.

About the Department of Learning and Engagement The Department of Learning and Engagement offers opportunities and experiences for a wide-ranging community of visitors. Primarily presented during Storm King’s open months of April through November, programs include concerts and performances, lectures and artist talks, family programs, school and adult tours, moonlit walks, and much, much more.

Learning and Engagement reflect Storm King’s ongoing dialogue with art, landscape, and nature. Programming aims to spark immersion, inspiration, investigation, and innovation for an ever-expanding audience. About the Opportunity and Requirements Docents are specially trained to support the educational mission of Storm King.

Docents facilitate public and adult group tours and assist with public programs and events. Candidates must be enthusiastic, curious, and eager to learn. Candidates must be able to lead hour-long outdoor tours in variable weather conditions on Storm King’s hills, grass and pathways. Working with the public requires an affable disposition and impeccable reliability.

A love for Storm King is essential and a background or interest in modern and contemporary art and/or landscape design is preferable. Fluency in other languages, especially Spanish, is a bonus. Once selected, new docent candidates will take part in an intensive training course covering best practices in museum education, as well as important information about Storm King’s operation, history, landscape, collection, and exhibitions.

The training program kicks off with one meeting in December followed by weekly meetings on Tuesdays in February and March. After completing the training program, docent candidates must successfully lead an observed test tour to join the corps. Docents are required to commit to at least one year of volunteer service. This includes attending regular Tuesday morning meetings (about ten per year) and ongoing learning opportunities, as well as leading a minimum of eight tours per season (typically scheduled during both weekday and weekend afternoons during our open season).

Perks Docents enjoy complimentary admission to Storm King for themselves and guests, as well as reciprocal admission to other institutions and discounts at our Museum Store and Outdoor Cafe. In addition to these benefits, the docent program provides a vibrant social learning community of more than 20 volunteers, many of whom have volunteered at Storm King for over a decade.

Special behind-the-scenes tours, talks, and workshops at Storm King, trips to fabricators’ and artists’ studios, and expeditions to other museums provide for fun, lasting learning opportunities.