Last summer, the Denver Art Museum gave its Gallery Officer role a bit of a makeover and renamed the position “Gallery Host.” 

These staff members are still, first and foremost, responsible for object and life safety and receive the same type of training in these areas as the gallery officers previously did.  Hosts also are expected to deliver exceptional customer service and to engage with visitors in substantive and strategic ways. 

Before the transition to the Gallery Host model, many of the DAM’s Gallery Officers already were warm, friendly, knowledgeable folks who provided assistance to visitors. So what’s different now?

The Gallery Hosts’ interactions with visitors are not just reactive. Of course, Gallery Hosts help visitors who approach them with questions, but, when conditions in the gallery allow for it, they also initiate interactions with visitors and engage them in dialogue that will enrich their experiences and help them connect with the museum and its many offerings. 

To help them do this, in addition to their safety training, the Hosts also receive ongoing training about the museum’s artwork and programming. 

The Gallery Host program is part of the museum’s broader strategy to create an environment that welcomes and engages the broadest spectrum of the community.

“A lot of museums have embraced this Gallery Host approach to security, and I think we’ll see a lot more move in this direction in the next few years,” says the DAM’s Director of Visitor Services Jill Boyd. “Cultural institutions are embracing the idea that security and visitor engagement are not mutually exclusive concepts, and that, in fact, the latter can many times help bolster the former. 

“The people who work in the galleries day in and day out know these works of art intimately and, often times, they are the only team members who are with our visitors when they are experiencing the thing they came to the museum to experience. So it makes a lot of sense to train and empower them to help our visitors connect with the artwork and the museum on a deeper level.”

Boyd says that visitors have noticed the change and receive many positive comments about their Gallery Hosts.

The Gallery Hosts and back-of-house Security team work together closely every day to ensure that both people and artwork remain safe, and Boyd says that the transition to the Gallery Host model was only able to be successful because of the awesome support from and collaboration with Director of Protective Services Tony Fortunato and his team.