Meet Andrew Lear of Shady Ladies Tours in Watertown

Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Lear.

Andrew, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I used to be a professor of Ancient Greek; my research focused on gender and sexuality in art. When I retired, it occurred to me that I could bring some of my work to a broader public by giving museum tours. This originally started at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, but I soon realized that I could also give them closer to home, at the Museum of Fine Arts. I give two different tours of the museum, one on the “gay secrets” of the museum, following LGBT themes in the collection from Ancient Greek vase-painting to John Singer Sargent, the other on women’s history in the museum’s artworks.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Mostly it’s been pretty smooth. My tours are popular with the press, having been covered in such places as “O, The Oprah Magazine,” “The Daily Beast,” “The Huffington Post,” “Town and Country,” and both the “Boston Globe” and “Boston Herald.” But of course there have been problems. Our sales are very reliant on social media, so every change in Facebook’s algorithm throws us for a loop; this spring has been particularly difficult. Facebook also often disallows our posts about sexier themes in art as obscene: as an example, they wouldn’t let me promote “Town and Country’s” article because it featured illustrations of some nudes!

Shady Ladies Tours – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I should perhaps add that I have 2 sister companies: Shady Ladies Tours, with tours focused on women’s issues, and Oscar Wilde Tours, with tours focused on LGBT issues. Both offer what is in effect infotainment about places in the real world, art museums or cities (we also do walking tours in Greenwich Village and multi-day tours in Europe). Our offerings are I think unique. There are many art tour companies, but they don’t have our focus on fun, intriguing themes. Our one direct competitor would be MuseumHack—but our tours are at a much higher intellectual level: all my guides have PhDs in art history. I think we are proud of our tours and in particular of the clever concepts behind them, but we are also proud of our fans’ appreciation (as seen in our on-line reviews and press coverage).

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I have been asked by several TV producers to consider turning the concepts behind my tours into TV series. None of these has quite come through as of yet, but one of these projects did result in my having lunch with a hero of mine, actor/author Stephen Fry.

Pricing:

• tickets to my MFA tours are $28
• private MFA tours start at $400 ($300 for school/college groups)
• tickets to Met tours range from $39 to $59

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.shadyladiestours.com
• Phone: 646 201 4848
• Email: shadyladiestours@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shadyladiestours/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShadyLadiesTours/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/shadyladiestour
• Other: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g60763-d10063540-r363848046-Shady_Ladies_Tours-New_York_City_New_York.html

Image Credit:
Photos by Anselm Skogstad, Charlie Conard, Corey O’Hara, Jane Wolansky, Kathryn Alcarez

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