Meet the Docents: Orange County’s Unsung Champions of Arts and Culture
- Aug 11
- 10 min read
August 10, 2026 Culture OC article by Anne Valdespino
If you think docents and volunteers simply greet visitors and give tours, think again. We take an inside look at the passion, professionalism and value they bring to Orange County’s cultural institutions.
He stands quietly in the gallery. Then, if you linger on a painting, he’ll engage. Henry Stiepel explained his method for getting visitors to take a serious look at a single masterpiece where he volunteers at the Hilbert Museum of California Art in Orange. Because, according to a 2001 study by the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the average gaze at a work of art is a mere 28 seconds.
He’s not taking you on a tour of the entire museum, he’s bringing one piece to life, gauging your interest before he greets you. “I don’t hover or interrogate. I introduce myself and say, ‘Enjoying yourself? Do you have two or three minutes? I can tell you about this one.’ Sometimes, three minutes turns into an hour,” he says.
Stiepel’s presentation on spotlighting was one of many revelatory moments we experienced when Culture OC decided to take a deep dive into the world of local volunteers at arts, cultural and historical institutions, starting with the Orange County Docent League’s meeting on July 20 at the Hilbert.
Yes, many are middle-aged women. But shame on you if you think they’re a bunch of bored old biddies with nothing to do. This is an army of intelligent torch-bearers, guarding our cultural entities with a dedication few of us could muster. Let’s face it: even though we love attending museums, art galleries and theaters, we’re simply passive audience members.
These kind souls allowed us an inside view of their hallowed workplaces and we were impressed by what we learned. Here are three takeaways we’ll share to guarantee you’ll never think of them the same way again.
TAKEAWAY NO. 1: THEIR PROFESSIONALISM
The program doesn’t start until 10 a.m. but by 9:15 the courtyard at the Hilbert is filled with attendees at the Orange County Docent League’s 50th networking event. They’re dressed in summer business casual: slacks, sundresses, wide-brimmed hats, sensible shoes, or sexy sandals. RSVPs zoomed to over 80, and lunch at the Streamliner Lounge & Café sold out.
At the refreshment stand, they’re hawking juice, hot coffee, fresh fruit and breakfast pastries. “Get some goodies, we want you to keep your energy up,” cries a volunteer. Another table across the way stands stacked with brochures from groups seeking docents: Pacific Marine Mammal Center, Bowers Museum, Olinda Oil Museum and Trail, Costa Mesa Historical Society and others.
Everyone’s merrily chatting away. “The need is great,” says Caryl Stein, 83, of Lake Forest, who volunteers at Laguna Art Museum and a local assistance league. “After teaching for 45 years and serving the public, I wanted to continue in various areas that would enhance people’s lives – including my own!”
They’re unpaid, but volunteers and docents must have a professional demeanor and learn special skills. Simply enumerating these requirements at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts will give you an idea of their rigorous training. So, we went straight to the source: Norm Major, director of audience services. “It is one of the hardest jobs to do in the theater,” he says of the center’s volunteer usher program.
Seat mix-ups that turn into altercations, rude audience members using cell phones, even the occasional medical emergency must be managed with grace; that’s why the usher captains are paid to handle the rough stuff. But the bulk of the ushers are dedicated volunteers who receive no pay and simply get parking fees reimbursed. This small army, 553 strong, completes three training sessions, wears branded shirts, carries flashlights and seats guests with accessibility needs. If someone has never been to the theater, volunteer ushers will even help calm those who might be a bit nervous.
They earn stars for each shift they serve, which can be traded for such perks as: new shirts, performance tickets and the chance to work their favorite parts of the theater. To show its appreciation, Segerstrom hosts parties for them, and they receive gifts for their loyalty and longevity. “I always remind myself that our volunteers are the first smile a guest sees,” Major said. “And they're often the last person to wish someone a good night.”
Separate from the usher volunteers, the center has a docent program with its own requirements. “They’re the biggest ambassadors that we have,” Major said. “If you think about the Disneyland tour guides (staff who wear plaid vests), that's our version,” he said.
They must be 18 or older, complete six training sessions, and co-lead a 60-90-minute walking tour, without notes, a minimum of 10 times a year to groups of all ages. They attend safety training sessions, membership meetings, optional luncheons and field trips. They pay $55 annual membership dues used toward website updates, necessary equipment and prizes given away at events. Some of the funds pay for docent luncheons.
Meet Eileen J. Cirillo, 87, of Costa Mesa, who’s logged 32 years. She used to conduct walking tours and now serves various functions, including stepping in at Monday night movies and giving mini-tours. Staff and volunteers often rely on her institutional memory.
Learn more about Eileen J. Cirillo
She donates money as well as her time. She still works as an executive in her family’s business. The company owns Del Cerro Mobile Estates, and has given over $1 million to the Segerstrom Center. Her name appears on a staircase and various legacy walls in the halls, and at first, she felt a bit bashful about it. But former executive vice president Judy Morr helped her face it.
“She said, ‘Accept it. Own it. Deal with it. And get over it,” Cirillo recalled with a chuckle. Cirillo said she feels more comfortable providing service rather than accepting accolades, even on challenging days.
She recalls a time when a group of special needs students arrived at Segerstrom Center, most in wheelchairs, and she wasn’t sure they would enjoy a detailed walking tour, so she turned to their teacher for help.
He asked if she could get them onstage. “So, we got them there, and in very plain words, I told them where they were. When the stagehands turned on some lights, the expressions on their faces? They just lit up like they were in heaven.”
Their teacher simply smiled and said, "You got it. That's all I need.”
PHOTO 1: Docent Sue Mundi shares information with visitors Anjana Picha, left, and her three children Poppy, 5, Clementine, 7, and Violet, 3. The family was visiting from Everett, Washington. PHOTO 2: Mundi, right, talks to visitors about the mosaic “Pleasures Along the Beach” by Millard Sheets that adorns the side of the museum. Photos by Paul Rodriguez, Culture OC
TAKEAWAY NO. 2: THEIR PASSION
Sue Mundi, an experienced docent at the Hilbert Museum, has eyes that sparkle the minute visitors walk in, especially if they are return guests, which happens frequently since admission is free. A family with three children comes in to play a scavenger hunt game, and she greets them with a smile before supplying a hint about where to look for the next object.
She delights in revealing inside info. Highlighting a storyboard, she’ll tell visitors all about how Disney animator Jørgen Klubien modeled “The Lion King” villain Scar on Adolph Hitler. She can point out that the man sitting at a table in Bradford J. Salamon’s “Monday at the Crab Cooker” painting just happens to be Mark Hilbert, founder of the museum. “Pleasures Along the Beach,” a mosaic by Millard Sheets set onto the façade of the building, has always fascinated her and still does. It’s pieces like this that transformed her from art appreciator to artist.
Learn more about Sue Mundi
Now a Fountain Valley resident, she grew up in Santa Monica, about five blocks from where Sheets’ work was first installed on a Home Savings and Loan. “It was big news that the mosaic was moving. I had to research where it was going, and I started following the Hilbert Museum,” she said. Soon after, a call went out for docents. “I said, ‘I don't know anything about art, but I love art, and I know a lot about that (mosaic) and I'd be happy to come and be a docent.’” That was two years ago.
She’s driven to share her love of art, she said, recalling a visit from a couple of Chapman students who had never seen the inside of a museum. She helped them discover a work they loved, a painting of Chavez Ravine. “It's stunning. But to see their faces, they loved it. They soaked it in like it was the best thing,” she said.
For Michael Steinman, 69, of Corona, docenting is deeply personal. His dedication to the Holocaust Museum Orange County in Newport Beach (which opened in August 2021) is embedded in his background. “I graduated high school at Midreshet Sde Boker, a boarding school at Kibbutz Sde Boker, where Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, lived,” he said. “I was there during the Yom Kippur War in October 1973.”
He guides students through pieces by Mel Mermelstein, assembled with historical objects from concentration camps. Visitors are allowed to touch these works as Steinman provides context and insights.
Learn more about Michael Steinman
City: Corona
Age: 69
Occupation: Retired teacher, worked as a language arts teacher in Pomona Unified School District for 17 years.
Where he docents: Holocaust Museum Orange County, Newport Beach
Hours: Up to 20 hours per week
Years volunteered: Two
Duties: Gives tours covering the basics of the Holocaust and the story of survivor Mel Mermelstein, whose artifact art is the educational centerpiece of the museum. He has manned off-site booths during events at Jewish community centers as well as given off-site PowerPoint presentations at high schools, juvenile detention and senior centers. He interviews Holocaust survivors on stage, in front of larger groups.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in communications from California State University, San Bernardino, nearly completed an MBA at Cal Poly Pomona, then switched and earned a teaching credential there. A graduate of Midreshet Sde Boker, a boarding high school at Kibbutz Sde Boker, founded to fulfill David Ben-Gurion’s vision of developing the Negev desert. Steinman was present during the Yom Kippur War, which broke out during his senior year (1973-74).
Superpower: He has a passion for learning about and explaining to others the plight of the abused, victimized, desecrated and voiceless.
Quote: “I find great honor and purpose in being a voice for those whose voices were taken. I don't want their suffering and loss to be forgotten.”
“Everybody today has an opinion about Israel, Gaza, Palestine, etc. They don't know very much about the actual history,” he says. “The Holocaust occurred because human life (was) deemed worthless. So, there's no problem doing away with it. That still happens today.”
Steinman hosts survivors at the museum who come to tell their stories, he visits Jewish community centers, he takes PowerPoint presentations to juvenile detention and senior centers. He’s spreading the word with a fervor, ending tours with a call to action. “There's so much we need to do in the world to be better to living creatures. And that's what we hope to do with the museum.”
TAKEAWAY NO. 3: THEIR MONETARY CONTRIBUTION
Even the nation’s premier arts venue has relied on volunteers since its founding. Established in 1958 by President Eisenhower, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is America’s national cultural center. Congress appropriated $43 million for its construction, but that was only a portion of the $70 million it cost. Private donations were critical, and in 1965, a group of women volunteers stepped up and gathered millions.
Docents were a big part of this drive, soliciting international embassies for contributions that would be valued at $3 million today. According to the National Park Service and Kennedy Center websites, those treasures included Norwegian crystal chandeliers, Indian laurel wood paneling, French tapestries by Henri Matisse and 3,700 tons of Italian Carrara marble.
The back story of Segerstrom Center, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in September, is much the same. “These things don't happen without volunteers stepping up,” Major said. “This is a community-driven theater, founded by people who wanted to have a performing arts hub here in Orange County.”
Volunteers gathered. Created strategies. Persuaded the Segerstrom family to donate land and eventually broke ground. It started more than 10 years before the first curtain went up. “Our annual Candlelight Gala just celebrated 50 years,” Major said, adding that the center is immensely proud of such contributions. “Our volunteer usher program is one of the defining parts of the Segerstrom Center experience,” he said.
Orange County cultural institutions rely on thousands of volunteers. According to the Pasadena Star News, the Nixon Library’s 160 docents cover four-hour shifts 7 days a week. More than 600 volunteers and five docents work 80 events in a single year at Fullerton’s Muckenthaler Cultural Center.
In Santa Ana, the Bowers Museum’s 300 volunteers work up to 50,000 hours annually. If paid at California’s minimum wage ($16.90), this would total $845,000. According to ProPublica.org, the Bowers’ annual tracked revenue for 2025 was about $7.85 million and its operational expenses were nearly $7.44 million. Without the volunteers’ contributions, the museum’s operating costs would balloon by more than 11%, putting it in the red. Imagine the debt this and other organizations would accumulate year after year without this free labor.
Jennifer Keil of Dana Point, a steering committee member for the Docent League of Orange County, knows that the needs are great. That’s why she founded 70 Degrees, a consulting firm for nonprofits. She’s a kind of museum whisperer who has worked with the Taiwanese American History Foundation in Irvine, the Moulton Museum, Balboa Island Museum and others. She’s in her 30s and holds a master’s degree in public and oral history from California State University, Fullerton with a minor in business, so she knows how to approach executives. “I ask them for capital to support nonprofits. We do grant writing, we secure funding for capital campaigns and we help with programming,” she said.
Keil acknowledges that the demographic for volunteers and docents is largely female. She also sees that reflected in museum leadership itself. “In general, the data has shown us that the high-level staff has been primarily becoming a female-oriented career pathway. So, I think that the women themselves are leading museums and also their education departments and docents. On a museum level, it's definitely female-dominant, female-oriented, female in terms of leadership,” she said.
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That matches data collected from July 2019 through January 2024 by Candid, an organization that provides a comprehensive database on U.S. nonprofits, grantmakers, and foundations, which states that overall, 62% of nonprofit CEOs or executive directors identified as women. However, larger organizations were likely to have a male CEO. According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, an independent organization that provides nonprofits and foundations with information, analysis and training, the percentage in female leadership drops to between 22% and 31% when the institution’s annual budget is $50 million or more.
Keil recognizes the value that women provide in museums, whether they’re paid or unpaid and it seems to be a tenet of the Docent League to band together. It has 40 organizations as members, with a $15 fee charged per institution, so an entire group of volunteers can participate.
When they gather, as they did recently at the Hilbert Museum, the fellowship is palpable, the camaraderie sincere, and the gratitude for docent and volunteer contributions in Orange County immense. On July 20, Docent League president Pamela Harrell’s opening remarks may have been preaching to the choir, but they were inspiring. “I know what docents do with dignity, pride and a sense of place, the millions of volunteer hours equivalent to millions of dollars,” she said. “You are the heart and soul of the institutions you serve. Thank you!”
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