Leo S. Guthman Fund Sponsors Joint Docent Training Program
In celebration of Black History Month, two of country’s oldest African American cultural institutions, the DuSable Museum of African American History and the Southside Community Art Center will join forces to create and manage their first-ever Joint Docent Training Program. Thanks to a grant from the Leo S. Guthman Fund, both institutions will collaborate in the development and implementation of a ten-week pilot docent training partnership designed to establish a solid volunteer docent base, an endeavor that is vital to the expansion of both institutions.
The inaugural class of ten (10) docent trainees will begin in late January of 2008 and continue through April of 2008 at the DuSable Museum. During the ten week training session participants will investigate the extensive collections of both the DuSable Museum and the South Side Community Art Center, in addition to receiving interpretive techniques training as well as African-American art and history analysis.
“Thanks to the vision and support of the Guthman Fund, the DuSable Museum and the South Side Community Art Center will be able to allow our Docent Trainees to share the stories, struggles and accomplishments of Black America with not only all of Illinois, but also with our guests from around the world who visit both institutions” said Antoinette D. Wright, President and CEO of the DuSable Museum. She continued, “This grant provides the catalyst and opportunity to continue a lasting appreciation of African-American history and culture for our visitors.”
Both institutions, the DuSable Museum of African American History and the South Side Community Art Center share the common bond of being co-founded by Dr. Margaret Goss Burroughs. In 1940, Dr. Burroughs founded the South Side Community Art Center along with a group of artists to provide a place for young African American artists to develop and display their talents and skills. In 1961, she, along with her late husband Charles and a group of educators and community leaders, set out to correct the omission of Black history and culture in education by founding what would eventually become the DuSable Museum of African American History, named after Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable, a Haitian fur trader who was the first permanent settler in Chicago.
For more information on the DuSable Museum and South Side Community Art Center joint Docent Training Program, you may contact Kay McCrimon at 773-947-0600.
The Leo S. Guthman Fund was created by the late Leo S. Guthman, art patron, collector and Chicago civic leader extraordinaire. The former president of Bradley & Vrooman Company is widely recognized by local non-profit community organizations for his philanthropic contributions. The Fund continues to support countless art related endeavors throughout the Chicagoland area.
The South Side Community Art Center acts as a resource for the arts community locally and abroad. As the oldest African American Art Center in existence (formally dedicated by Eleanor Roosevelt in 1941), it takes pride in its past and present contributions to the development and showcasing of emerging and established artists. For more information on the Center and its programs and exhibitions you may call 773-373-1026 or visit http://www.southsidecommunityartcenter.com
DuSable Museum of African American History
The DuSable Museum of African American History, the first institution of its kind in the country, has been dedicated to the collection, preservation, interpretation and dissemination of the history and culture of Africans and Americans of African descent for more than 46 years.
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