• The Museum Contemporaries
• The Museum Guild
• The Docent Association

The Museum Contemporaries
Annual Dues: $10

The Museum Contemporaries, an affiliate organization of the Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science, was established in 1991 with the goal of attracting new people to the Museum, regardless of age, race and creed, as well as encouraging the financial support and enjoyment of the Museum.

The Museum Contemporaries provide specially organized social, cultural and educational activities and raise funds for the Museum and its programs.

The Museum Contemporaries is open to adults, twenty-one and over.  Annual membership dues are $10 in addition to general membership to the Museum.  Membership in The Museum Contemporaries is not required to participate in the events, but it is encouraged and ensures you will receive notice of all of the Contemporaries’ events.

The Museum Guild
Annual Dues: $20

The Guild generously gives their time and talent throughout the year. Most of all, we have fun planning activities that benefit the Museum and the community! If you aren't already a member, won't you consider joining? We need YOU to make our events fun and successful.

On January 9, 1962, the Evansville Museum Guild, then known as the Evansville Museum Women's Association, held its first meeting, electing Ona Dieckman as president. Association membership for that first year was sixty women. The founding officers of the Guild Board included: Ona Dieckman, Lula Welborn, Marjorie Donovan, Martha de Jong Combs, Martha Ingle and Buelah Schoonmaker.

The Museum Guild By-Laws state that the organization "strives to stimulate interest and participation in the activities of the museum; to provide volunteer workers to aid the museum in its activities; and to provide formal, organized activities and planned projects for the benefit of the museum."

Over the past four decades, the Museum Guild's many successful projects - including the Angel Tea, Mistletoe Mart, the annual River Dance, the Antiques Show, and spring luncheons - have generated over $750,000 for the Evansville Museum's operating budget. Annual projects of the Museum Guild include the Fourth of July celebration, which is organized for Museum members and the High School Art Show. Now in its 43rd year, the High School Art Show has benefited literally thousands of young artists enrolled in eighteen public, private, and parochial high schools in a five county area.

Annually, the Guild supports not only the Museum's general operating fund, but also donates the top award in the "Mid-States Exhibition," a six state regional fine arts and crafts competition. The Guild has underwritten continuing education for the Evansville Museum Docent Association by sponsoring a trip to the annual national Docent Symposium for one of the docents and the Museum's Curator of Education. In the past forty-three years, changing art, history, and science exhibitions too numerous to mention have been made possible by Guild support.

The Museum Docent Association

NEW Museum Docents provide guided tours of our permanent collections, special exhibitions and planetarium shows for school children, church groups, and other visitors. These specially trained Museum ambassadors help visitors better understand and enjoy their visit. Docents receive on-going training for changing exhibitions, as well as permanent collections.

Docents receive in-depth training about the Museum collections and have the chance for a "first look" at most temporary exhibitions. Travel opportunities are also available, as the Docent Association plans one or two educational road trips each year to various museums and galleries. The most recent trip was to Limestone Country in Central Indiana, and included a visit to the T. C. Steele Historic Site, Bedford and Nashville, Indiana.

Docent training for the 2007-2008 school year will begin in August. Anyone who is interested in becoming a Docent is welcome to follow a tour and see firsthand how a Docent educates a group.

To arrange this experience, or for more information, please call Curator of Education Stephanie Gerhardt at (812) 425-2406, ext. 226. Step into the Docent circle!

At EMAHS, our Docents lead children and adults on educational adventures that are designed to complement the classroom experience and bring the Museum to life. Enthusiastic individuals who are willing to volunteer their time are always needed for our continuing efforts to enhance Museum education.