The 2026 Virginia Docent Exchange (March 8-10, 2026) will take place in Williamsburg, VA and is co-hosted by the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg and the Muscarelle Museum of Art at William & Mary.
Our Theme: The Docent Revolution! Sharing Stories
Revolutionary ideas didn’t end in 1776. As our museums evolve to support our ever-changing community needs, we too must look at our docent programs and work to adapt and adjust our docent programs to best serve the needs of our current and future audiences. The 2026 Virginia Docent Exchange, hosted in America’s Colonial Capital during America’s 250th birthday, aspires to bring together docents throughout Virginia to share our stories and build a statewide docent community to increase our impact and value in our museums.
Examples of education session proposals that align with the Exchange theme include:
- The Rest of the Story – showcasing the impact of underrepresented artists in our galleries
- Outside of the Box – 20 creative ways to lead a children’s museum tour
- The AI Wild West – strategies to incorporate Artificial Intelligence in docent research
- It’s Not About You! Constructing meaningful docent tours focused on a visitor-centric approach.
- Have You Thought About… – an open discussion session on ways to improve recruitment, training and retention of museum docents.
- The Numbers Game – using metrics, guest surveys, and feedback to improve the docent tour experience.
A few things to note about education sessions:
- There will be five 45-minute breakout session periods scheduled during the Exchange.
- All sessions must be no longer than 30-35 minutes long, with 10 minutes allowed for questions and open discussion.
- Remember your audience – program focus should be on methods and ways to help docents talk about art to audiences, not a lecture about art!
- All education session proposals must be submitted electronically using the submission form below.
- Attendees will have the option to select their individual breakout session and will be assigned their session preferences based on receipt of registration.
Conference Session Proposal Submission Form: https://wmsas.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0AgKU3X07V6y5XU
Deadline for proposals is September 30, 2025. Notification of acceptance of proposal is November 17, 2025.
Contact info@virginiadocentexchange.org with questions.