The Wall Street Journal notes the growing number of volunteer museum docents and tour guides among the baby boomer generation, and problems with managing the volunteer staff that often comes with the territory.  “There was this culture of resistance,”says Hirshhorn Museum spokeswoman Kelly Carnes of volunteers who opposed changes in the tour guide structure. “They really felt entitled after spending enough time here not to make any changes from the way they had previously done things.” (more…)

The New York Times has published an expansive gallery guide for the spring art season, profiling a selection of new shows, young galleries and interesting works across Brooklyn, Chelsea, Soho and both the Upper and Lower East Side.  Among the editors picks are Clearing Gallery in Bushwick, Participant Inc. downtown, and Franklin Parrasch uptown. (more…)

The Wall Street Journal reports on Museum Hack, an effort by founder Mark Rosen to breathe new life into the guided museum tour.  For $39, guests are treated to a two-hour tour through the Metropolitan Museum of Art, focusing on more unconventional works and infrequently discussed histories of some of the museum’s more interesting pieces.  “You typically don’t go to a fancy restaurant, study the menu for three seconds, order everything, gorge yourself and roll out the door,” Mr. Rosen said to his Sunday-morning charges. “Yet almost everybody comes here, tries to see everything in four hours or less, Instagrams the hell out of the place and leaves, remembering nothing.”  (more…)