We’ve known for a long time now that regular arts education for elementary school kids can really spark their creativity. But we also know that it’s often among the first programs to be cut when budgets get tight. But for more than 50 years, a group of volunteer docents at the San Jose Museum of Art have been doing their part — and probably yours and mine, too — to keep the arts accessible to classrooms.

Toby Fernald, a Saratoga resident and former trustee for the Museum of Art, started volunteering in 1986 and says that she and other longtime docents like Rich Karson, Jeff Bordona, Bill Faulkner see it as more than a way to pass the time.

“We have remained involved because we love the museum, see its great value in the community and believe in art as an integral part of all human beings which we wish to nurture,” said Fernald, who also taught elementary school in Sunnyvale in the 1970s before her two sons were born.

Docent Tony Misch gives an art presentation to first-graders at Lincoln Elementary School in Cupertino as part of the San Jose Museum of Art’s Let’s Look at Art education program on Feb. 24, 2025. (Courtesy San Jose Museum of Art) 

Let’s Look at Art was launched in 1972, just a few years after the museum itself, and docents used art prints to present lessons to fourth- and fifth-graders. The program eventually expanded to include kindergarten through fifth-graders, and in the mid-’90s Fernald was part of a group that spearheaded Art in the Dark, using slide projectors to give presentations to middle-school classes. And in the 20th century, the program went digital — greatly expanding its potential subjects and adding high school classes to the mix.

In 2023, Fernald and fellow docent Tony Misch were on hand to accept the Cornerstone of the Arts Creative Impact Award from the city of San Jose, noting that the program had reached more than 1 million students in its five decades.

That’s a great record, but there’s always more potential students than volunteers, as some docents retire or move away — or just can’t do as many presentations thanks to busy schedules. That’s why Fernald hopes there’s a good turnout for “A Day in the Life of a Docent,” a Nov. 14 event at the museum where people can find out how they can get involved in SJMA’s education programs, either in the gallery or in classrooms.

They’re especially hoping to recruit more bilingual docents fluent in Spanish, but everyone is welcome — and you don’t need any art experience to volunteer. “A Day in the Life of a Docent,” will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and is free to attend. You can get more information or RSVP at sjmusart.org/event/day-life-docent-2025.

CREATIVE GATHERING: San Jose’s 2025 team of Creative Ambassadors are doing something no previous cohort has done by coming together to organize, “Creative Stories: As Told by the People of San Jose,” a collective exhibition that opens Nov. 7 at the Citadel Art Gallery at 199 Martha St.

The opening reception, which starts at 5 p.m., will showcase the yearlong projects — zines, collages, photographs, paintings and community-driven initiatives — from the five artists: photographer Miguel Ozuna, painter and comic book artist Julie Cardenas, More Más Marami Arts founder Matt Casey, mixed-media artist Steven Rubalcaba and educator and artist Jessica Gutierrez. The exhibition will be open through Nov. 23.

Then on Nov. 8, Gutierrez will be at Noble Gallery in downtown San Jose to host “MOM: Mosaic of Motherhood,”  the capstone event to their project, “For the Mamas,” which provided free art workshops for mothers and their children. That event runs from 2 to 6 p.m. at the gallery at 500 S. Almaden Blvd., and the exhibition runs through Nov. 29.

ARTISTIC TRIBUTE: Los Gatos resident Olga Enciso Smith may be in her early 80s, but she’s still working hard to preserve Latin American artistic traditions here in the Santa Clara Valley. Machu Picchu Gallery of the Americas, which the Peru native founded in 1974, has been a vital part of that effort and the gallery is honoring her life and work with a special event Nov. 7 at the gallery, which is inside the Citadel on Martha Street.

The centerpiece of the celebration, which runs from 5 to 7 p.m., is a Dia de los Muertos ofrenda created by Smith and her son, Brian M. Smith, adorned with marigolds, corn stalks, candles, gourds and handmade skeleton figures. She will lead a remembrance ceremony, providing visitors the chance to reflect on their memories of family and friends who have passed.