Museum Volunteer Award
In partnership with the Canadian Federation of Friends of Museums.
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ Museum’s Association of volunteer guides
Members of the Association of Volunteer Guides of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. From left to right, top to bottom: Andrea Mackenzie, Ghyslaine Roy, Grace Powell, Nuria Claro, Pauline Jourdain, Madelaine Colaço, Colette Richer. Photo coordination by Kim Honig, and graphic design by Sophia Wagner-Vanamala.
Since 2019, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ Museum’s Association of volunteer guides has been participating in the only social innovation program of its kind in Canada: guided museum visits for seniors in situations of social precarity.
Led by Dr. Olivier Beauchet, formerly director of the RUIS McGill Centre of Excellence for Longevity and current research director at the Université de Montréal’s CRIUGM, a team of four enthusiastic and experienced guides led the project over two years, engaging with 40 participants.
With the Association reporting high demand, three recruits joined. Trained by a first cohort veteran, the recruits began the program’s third year, this time virtually.
With help from an interpreter for the Chinese group, the guides faciltated spontaneous expression and developed bonds of trust with groups with little experience of museums. Some of the guides also being from immigrant communities, they successfully built connections and demonstrated their added value to the museum.
This collaboration demonstrates the guides’ enthusiasm and aptitude for participating in a scientific research protocol on art and health. It highlights their capacity to support the Museum’s development as it enters uncharted territory.
Clifford Pereira
Clifford Joseph Pereira became a volunteer associate (VA) in the Research Committee of the Museum of Anthropology Museum (MOA) in 2015. After noticing the discrepancies in labeling of African items in the multiversity galleries, Cliff patiently guided members of the committee on what turned out to be a long journey through Africa, collecting information to rename the approximately 2700+ items in the MOA collection.
Renaming African items entails identifying items, their country of origin, region of production, ethnicity of the artist or manufacturer, language of the ethnic group, original language names, meaning of the original name, brief history of the ethnic group, construction, and collectors. Over 1500 items have been investigated, 1000 items have been linked to thir specific ethnicities, and 750 items now have original language names!
“I am speechless. I have been working on this project for seven years, much of that has been remotely in Hong Kong through its issues, though I have seized every opportunity to return to MOA and ground myself. I have found an attachment to many belongings and their cultures, some of which I have visited on this research journey. To be recognized for this work means a lot to me. I thank all of you who have shared my path”.— Clifford Pereira