National Museum holds Guides, Docents Training Workshop in Iloilo City

In celebration of 2018 Heritage Month, the National Museum is holding a four-day Guides and Docents Training Workshop on May 7-10, 2018 at Western Visayas Regional Museum and Satellite Office (formerly Iloilo Rehabilitation Center) at Capitol Compound, Bonifacio Drive, Iloilo City. 

NM Assistant Director Ana M. T. Labrador said the program is the 5th in a series of workshops that National Museum started in 2016. 

This year, NM chose Iloilo City as the venue because of the many museums and galleries in the region, including the two new National Museum facilities located in the City Proper and Jaro.

The former Prison of Iloilo now the Iloilo and Western Visayas Regional Museum
(Photo courtesy of Panay News)

 “The NM hopes that by the end of the training workshop, the aspiring docents, tour guides, and museum guides and enthusiasts will understand the distinction betwee guides for sites and those for  museums to meet the growing need for professionally animating and articulating information about collections in Western Visayas,” Labrador said.

The former Jaro Municpal Hall now a National Museum facility
(Photo from Iloilo Travel Guide)

“The more or less 50 participants are expected to acquire the fundamental skills in museum tour guiding and basic tour script writing, have a better understanding on the Philippine tourism context, appreciate cultural heritage particularly of Iloilo, and come up with a workable museum tour script,” Labrador added.

She added that the participants will apply what they learned from the training in the actual tours.

The workshop will cover topics and speakers including Iloilo History and Heritage and Guided Tours of Museums or Heritage Houses by Nereo Lujan, chief, Iloilo Provincial Information and Community Affairs Office; Fundamentals of Tour Guiding and Spiel Delivery by Rene Cortum, Supervising Tourism Operations Officer, Department of Tourism-6, and Ms Erlyn Alunan, Community Affairs/Information/Tourism Officer of San Joaquin and Vice President of Iloilo Tourism Officers Association (ITOA); Fundamentals of Museum Guiding with Testimonials and Introduction to Tour Script Writing by April Joy Santiago, NM Museum Guide; and Basic Museum Tour Script Development.

Dr. Labrador and the members of the Universal Access Committee will spearhead the training. Maria Belen Pabunan, who is also the Chief Administrative Officer of the NM Central Museum Visitor Operations Division, heads the committee.

The training is in partnership with the Provincial Government of Iloilo through the Provincial Tourism Office and ITOA, in coordination with NM Regional Administration and Operations Division (RAOD).

In the same training, Dr. Labrador facilitated a discussion on the issues and concerns related to putting up local/regional museums and the role of local stakeholders in sustaining them.