School Tours at the Speed Art Museum teach concepts that apply across the educational spectrum and encourage critical thinking skills. Currently, school tours are organized around four themes: Highlights Tours, Looking at Art Tours, How Art Reaches Us Tours, and People: Real and Imagined Tours.

Scheduling a Tour

School tours are available Tuesday-Friday from 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM. Weekend tours are also available.

If you cancel your tour with less than 48 hours advance notice, full payment will be required. This does not apply to school closures. One month's advance notice is required for all guided tours.

Photo by Kenneth Hayden

Chaperones

For the school tour to be effective for all, the museum requires one adult per 10 students. All chaperones and teachers are admitted to the museum free.

Self-Guided Tours

Any school group planning a self-guided visit to the museum should contact the Tour Coordinator a month in advance of the proposed visit. Have several dates in mind when you call as the museum may be at capacity for tour groups on the first date you request. A fee of $15.00 covers the cost of tour materials that the museum provides for self-guided groups. We ask teachers and chaperones to review these materials prior to their visit and use them with their students.

Special Exhibitions

Guided school tours of special exhibitions are arranged through the Sales Coordinator for Adult and School Groups. Admission prices for exhibitions vary and arrangements need to be made a minimum of four weeks in advance of the visit. Self-guided school tours of special exhibitions also are arranged through the museum's Sales Coordinator for Adult and School Groups. Arrangements also need to be made four weeks in advance of the visit.

Fee Waivers and Bus Subsidies

Students who participate in the free and reduced lunch program can be admitted free. The Hadley Education Access Fund and the Lilly P. Segal Grant help the Education Department sponsor a limited number of transportation grants to schools in the region. If your school group needs financial assistance, please call the Tour Coordinator for more information.

PRIMARY SCHOOL TOURS (Grades Kindergarten – 3)

Highlights Tours

Excite your students about art with this overview of some of the Speed's finest artworks from around the world. Our docents tailor the tour to younger learners by engaging them with active gallery games, props, and lively discussion. With advance notice, this tour can accommodate your request to see art from a specific culture or time period.

Looking at Art: Color, Shape, and Line

Students will expand what they already know about color, shape, and line by exploring how these basic elements are used in various works of art. Docents utilize gallery games, kinesthetic activities, and inquiry-based discussion to actively engage students.

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL TOURS (Grades 4 – 5)

Highlights Tours

This tour of key works from various cultures and periods is a solid introduction to art at the Speed. Docents employ stories, games, and lively discussion to hold student interest. Students are encouraged to compare and contrast the works they see to discover how art changes over time. With advance notice, this tour can accommodate your request to see art from a specific culture or time.

Looking at Art: Level II

Students discover great art and several key concepts and terms, including portrait, still life, and landscape paintings by artists of different cultures and periods. Through inquiry and discussion your students will learn to distinguish representational and non-representational art works and discover the purposes of art, while expressing their own opinions about what they see.

MIDDLE SCHOOL TOURS (Grades 6 – 8)

Highlights Tours

Hook your students on art with key works from various cultures and periods. Strategic questioning by docents challenges middle-schoolers to discover how art changes from period to period and culture to culture. This tour can accommodate your advance request to see art from a specific culture or time period.

Looking at Art: Level III

How do concepts like value, color, and contrast make art that conveys powerful meanings and feelings? For example, students examine the dynamics of lights and darks and how they can be used to create 3-D effects. Throughout the tour, students are invited to express their own opinions about what they see.

HIGH SCHOOL TOURS (Grades 9 – 12)

Highlights Tours

Whet your students' appetite for art with the Speed's best-loved artwork. Docents will tailor your tour to young adults, providing relevant historical detail and challenging students to think critically about what they see. This tour can accommodate your advance request to see art from a specific culture or time period.

Looking at Art: Level IV

Students explore design principles such as unity, proportion, and scale in works from various times and places. Inquiry and active discussion help students analyze how artists apply these principles to make successful artworks. Students are encouraged to appreciate how these principles vary across cultures and time periods–and to express their own opinions about the art they see.

For more information about School Tours, please call (502) 634-2700 or e-mail tours@speedmuseum.org.

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