museum security guards as informal educators

In collaboration with the Youth Insights program at the Whitney and my fellow graduate intern, Melanie, I have begun filming the documentary for the website. I am beyond excited about the results - we've got some really great stuff on tape. So far, we have interviewed two museum security guards with fascinating stories. We have five section that we are asking them about: personal history/background, day-to-day operations, interactions (with visitors, museum depts, other guards), comparison to other museums, and expertise in art and art history. So far, we've interviewed one man who has been a security guard at the Whitney for 28 years and is going to give us his own personal tour of the collection tomorrow at 4:30PM. He's originally from Trinidad and if he could have any position in the museum, he'd be a docent. We've interviewed another guy who's been here for 19 years and LOVES the collection -- I mean, he's the most passionate man I've met at the museum. He's been mistaken for Adam Weinberg (the director of the museum) and if he could work in the museum in another position, he'd be in visitor services. He took some paintings and art history courses, but says that he learned the most about art from working here every day. He calls the Whitney his second home.

Basically, what I've realized so far is that (1) these guys are very passionate about the museum and (2) they act as informal educators in the museum. They love sharing their opinion with the visitors (while doing their job of protecting the art, of course). They have access to an institutional history that few of the curators or administrators may have. They are undervalued and their wealth of information is rarely accessed.

I have learned so much so far and been totally inspired. I have also realized that our intern "Thursday Seminars" (where we meet with different people who work in the museum) neglect these security guards -- we don't even talk to head of security! I've also realized that the gender ratio is totally opposite of the employees in the museum: 90% men, 10% women.

We continue filming tomorrow and I can't wait to learn more.