Spring 2010

Dear Friends and Members,
I am so pleased to let you know that the museum has launched a completely re-designed docent training program this winter. The series of five in-depth sessions were planned by our Coordinator of Education Marian Granfield, Curator Michael Beam and Membership Coordinator Susan Clements. Many thanks go to the sixteen volunteers who have signed on for this new program. I am deeply grateful for their commitment to learning the skills that will help the museum provide more exciting and engaging tours for visitors.
The series' first session, "Get to know the CAM," explored the museum's history, the inspiration for our building's distinctive design and provided an introduction to our ever-growing collection. As staff shared their research for this session, I realized that this valuable information would also be of interest to our general audiences. Two new publications focusing on the museum's history and collection highlights will be produced for visitors this spring. As an internship project for a class on public history, Niagara University student Andrea Peeck will create a power-point presentation about the museum's origins that will later be adapted for display on the new flat-screen TV in our reception area.
Additional sessions in the docent training program will address the principles and elements of design, methods and media used by artists, and the distinguishing features of major art movements. A key session will focus on ways of looking at art. We hope that providing these useful strategies will help both docents and our visitors to combat what one writer for the New York Times has described as "art anxiety"-and support them in exploring artworks in many styles and media.
Also this winter, the museum is once again partnering with Niagara University's Department of Theater and Fine Arts to present reader's theater performances of "Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams" in our beautiful central gallery. The play, written by Pulitzer Prize winning author Nilo Cruz, will be complimented by an exhibition of works by Latin American surrealists from the CAM collection. Our members-only "Meet-me-at-the-CAM series continues with presentations on the Harlem Renaissance, women artists and the Figure in Art. Latin music and dance, a fabulous antidote to the winter blues, will be featured at our March Museum Mixer. Please check our newsletter calendar for details and plan on joining us for an event here soon!

Kate Koperski
Director