Tips for using these guides and
starting with a Museum Book Club
Join an Existing Club at Your Local Museum
More and more museums are starting book clubs every month. Open to the general public or museum members, they are also most often free of charge. To see if there's one in your area, check the list at right, or contact your local museum directly. The readings in these book clubs, usually chosen by the museum's own curators or art educators, will reflect the institution's specific collection or its current exhibition. Participating in one of these clubs, once or many times, can be a great way to get to know your museum, and to learn something about the art in it from the people who know it best.
Go Our On Your Own
If there's not a museum near you offering a club, there's no reason you can't start your own. And you don't need to commit to a club forever, try it once and see how it goes. Just pick a book, and find a few friends.
Choosing a Book
To choose a book for your club, browse our guides, or the expanding library of books that museums have previously chosen for their own groups. Look to your local museum. Do they have an interesting exhibition coming up, or a particular strength in their permanent collection? With a little research you'll probably find some great books to go with them. Still not sure? Email us at bookclub@holartbooks.com or tweet with hashtag #museumbookclub and we'll give you some suggestions.
Setting a Meeting
No one in a book club has ever complained about meeting at the organizer's house and talking art literature over plentiful good food and wine. Some even offer to contribute food and drink themselves. Even better though might be to hold your meeting at your local museum. And in fact, your best bet for meeting at a museum might be the cafe anyway, where you can combine the best of both worlds: art and wine. Get everyone together in the galleries for an hour, then sit down to lunch or an early supper and talk about the book. Ideally, the work you look at in the galleries will be connected to your book selection, but even being in the space and enjoying the art can be conversation stimulating.
Working with Your Museum
Your museum may offer other opportunities for your club. You could potentially hire a docent or tour guide to lead you through the collection and even talk specifically about the work your book focuses on. They may have meeting spaces besides the cafe. The shop might be willing to special order copies of your book and sell them to your club at a nice discount. Reach out to them. Look for information on their websites, and if you need a contact, check with the Education department first or call the museum and ask the operator who you might speak to.
Special Offers for
Art & Museum Book Clubs
Reading a Book from Hol? Get up to 35% Off for your Club!
For any club reading a book published by Hol Art Books, we'll provide a discount code your club members can use to purchase the book at a 25% discount at holartbooks.com. Print or E-book. Or, for even greater savings, you can place a single bulk order to have all your books paid for and shipped at once, for 35% off the cover price! Email us at bookclub@holartbooks.com for details.
Early Access
Subscribe to our mailing list for more special offers, including early access to our titles. With advance notification, book clubs can be among the first to get their hands on our latest titles. Subscribe here.
Coming Soon — Author Connect
Want to include our authors in your club? They probably won't be able to join you in person, but most will be available to answer questions by email or phone. And some even by online video chat. Watch this space for more, or email us at bookclub@holartbooks.com for details.
For Art Educators & Librarians
Our reading guides are created by professional art and museum educators. Join us. Suggest a title, write a discussion guide of at least ten questions that we publish for free on our site, and you'll earn $100 for yourself. Learn how.
