Thirteenth International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

How does the museum connect children with art works? How does the art museum facilitate volunteers to be children’s friends? This research takes Children’s Art Education Center in Taipei Fine Art Museum (TFAM) as a case study and methods of observations and interviews are applied to explore the model for volunteer’s training program for children’s art education. This study finds that TFAM Children’s Art Education Center aims to facilitate volunteers to think from children’s perspectives and give guidance as a friend and companion. The training programs include: (a) Guiding children to observe artworks rather than merely giving correct answers, (b) accepting and admiring different answers from children, (c) encouraging participation and dialogues among family members, (d) giving support and encouragement when children are painting, (e) using the story-telling strategy and vocabularies that suits children’s cognition and experience. From the interview, volunteers expressed they would like to be empathetic with children’s needs and feeling as well as learning tips for communicating with family members. Thus, a better model for the training programs should include courses of child psychology and parenting skills. Moreover, courses should contain multiple perspective that lead volunteers to inspire children’s curiosity and humor, and open conversations with children and artworks. More importantly, the museum should develop an evaluation form that includes perspectives of both volunteers and museum professionals to meets their needs and requirements to improve the training programs.