One-off special lectures for new and experienced docents, led by both internal and external specialists, designed to provide FOM docents with additional information in preparation for special exhibits or new acquisitions, to help broaden their general knowledge, or deepen their expertise in specialised areas.
Please note that DOT lectures are open only to active FOM docents, not the general public. (Please bring your guide badge with you for admission.)
Next Program:
To be announced; watch this space.
The TPM DOT team
Special Announcement for ACM Student Tour Leaders:
The ACM Education Department has been reviewing how student tours are managed by the museum and has developed some new policies which they hope will make guiding students smoother and more enjoyable for everyone, and they need our assistance to implement some of these new policies.
There are three main changes that will begin immediately:
- Student groups will be assembled outside the museum, both before and after the tour, in order to reduce noise levels in the foyer. Please pick up your student groups from outside the museum and bring them back to the outside of the museum after the tour. Teachers bringing students to the museum and the museum guards have been briefed on these new procedures and will help to enforce them.
- Please lead student groups into the galleries via the back staircase, to the left of the reception desk as you enter the museum. The grand staircase will be reserved for non-school groups and individual visitors. Please also bring students back down via this staircase.
- Please begin all student tours with a brief discussion on museum etiquette. Many of us already do this when we guide students, but the museum would love it to become a regular part of all student tours.
The 5 main rules that the museum would like us to include in whatever etiquette briefing you design are these:
- Walk, don't run. (Why? Not knock into artefacts, hurt ourselves, break glass showcases.)
- Talk softly. (Why? Not disturb others, so others can hear the guide.)
- No food in the museum. (Why? Creepy-crawlies (primary school) or pests, spillage destroy our space and artefacts.)
- Do not touch artefacts even if object is on open display, unless in interactive zones. (Why? Oils on our fingers can stain or damage artefacts, artefacts are old and fragile.)
- Take photographs without flash. (Why? Some objects are sensitive to light.)
Many of our students have never been to a museum before, and are truly not aware of how to behave appropriately. Feel free to do this is whatever way feels natural to youãwhether playfully or solemnly. You may brief them outside the museum before bringing them inside, in the Shaw Foyer, or at the start of the gallery in which you begin your tour.
These new procedures will be incorporated in future docent training, but for the time being, we may all need to make a special effort to remember the new policies. Teachers and students who have visited before may also need some time to get used to them, and the museum staff asks for our patience as everyone adjusts.
We all hope that these new policies will make the museum a calmer, more organized place for docents, students, visitors and museum staff alike.
Thank you all so much for all the time and effort you give as docents to the ACM community and to Singapore as a whole!
Sincerely,
LeeAnn Deemer
ACM Committee Coordinator/Docent Liaison
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