Education staff at The Huntington are rebuilding the institution’s entire docent program with an eye toward equity, better representation and improved visitor experiences. Funded by the IMLS, the first two years of the Relevance, Access and Diversity (RAD) Docents Project brought in specialists in adult learning, organizational and program equity, and the like. Delighted to be invited onto the team as the process evaluator for the project, I had the pleasure of sitting in on those educational sessions. I also enjoyed supporting their research into practices at other museums, and their in-house survey of docents. During the two+ year project, I met regularly with the team to help them reflect on their process, and what they had learned had accomplished. We also checked in on goals and deliverables while charting next phases. This important work continues in house.
