This summer I've had the privilege of interning at the Meadows Museum in Dallas.  I've been working with members of the educational department who have been wonderful and I've had the pleasure of working with an undergraduate intern with a degree in art history.  The first day was a meeting with the docent board which gave some insight into the dynamics of this very dedicated group and the museum in general.  Shortly after this, we participated in was an art teachers workshop using an exhibit of prints associated with war by Goya and Picasso as well as propaganda posters from the time of Picasso's prints. The Meadows has a spectacular collection of Goya prints and finding associations between Goya, Picasso and the posters made for good discussion between the teachers in the gallery.
    As part of my research into the inclusion of elders in the art museum world, I had the opportunity of speaking with a docent after a tour of such an audience.  Her frustrations were normal for someone expecting this age group to react as a younger audience might.  Her observations of this audience were in line with research on the matter and further casual chats with the tour group revealed mostly positive responses but also expected complaints, all of which can be cleared up by a few small changes in tour design.  At a later date I will have the opportunity to give a talk to the docents as a group and I hope to help alleviate their apprehensions and insecurities with working with this age group.  I will also be participating in an observation at an elder facility that wishes the museum to expand their Alzheimer/dementia program as well as working with the lead for this program on the upcoming program next week.
    Coming up next week we will be very busy with activities centered around the museum's new exhibit Picasso/Rivera: Still Life and the Precedence of Form.  There will be drop-in art projects in two areas using collage and print-making, story telling, a teacher's workshop and a Re-connections (Alzheimer/dementia) program.  It will be a very busy week! 
    In the meantime I've been studying Francisco de Zurbaran and writing materials to be included in education materials for the upcoming exhibit Zurbaran: Jacob and His Twelve Sons, Paintings from Auckland Castle.
   Another highlight of the summer was the opportunity to visit the CROW and sit in on a meeting of the DFW Museum Educator's Roundtable about Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.  It was good to see Dr. Kraehe and Dr. Evans there and it's good to know our community is thinking about these things although the use of the term cane by one person and quickly picked up by another as a disabling symbol for an elder was disturbing and shows that ageism is easily accepted in our society.
    I look forward to the last couple of weeks that will end like a forth of July finale with a very busy schedule of engaging and interesting projects and programs.