The KIA is happy to welcome school groups for self-guided visits and interactive docent-guided tours designed to spark curiosity and conversation. Using close-looking strategies, interactive activities, and open-ended discussions, our volunteer docents encourage students to explore works of art, think critically, and confidently share their own observations and interpretations.
Student Group Details
ArtLabs are only available with a docent-guided tour, Wednesdays-Fridays during the school year (September-May). They are not available on the weekends or during the summer (June-August).
Pre-K-12 guided tours are free.
Please arrive 5-10 minutes before your scheduled tour.
Tours are one hour long. If you elect to include an onsite ArtLab (see description below) as part of your experience, your visit to the KIA will be two hours long. ArtLabs can be scheduled based on KIA studio availability.
School tours can be scheduled Wednesday through Friday, 10:00 am-3:30 pm.
If your group is taking a tour only, we can accommodate up to 60 students in the galleries at a time. If you would like to bring more than 60 students on a particular day, they will need to come in groups of 60 or less in one hour increments. We can accommodate up to 3 groups of 60 students per day (180 students total). If you need to bring more than 180 students, you will need to schedule a second visit on another day.
If your group is taking a tour and participating in an ArtLab, we can accommodate up to 100 students in the building at a time.
One chaperone is required per every ten students and must be 18 years of age or older. While teachers fulfill the chaperone requirement, paraprofessionals do not. They are welcome and encouraged to attend; however their primary responsibility is supporting individual students, while chaperones are responsible for supervising the group.
Tours must be scheduled at least four weeks in advance of your preferred tour date.
Qualifying Kalamazoo County K-8 school groups pay only $25 for bussing costs. Find information here about KRESA/EFA’s offer.
We are not currently booking tours for the 2026–27 school year. Please check back in mid-August.
Tour Themes
When filling out the guided-tour request form, you will be asked to choose from one of the tour themes listed below. Please note that though each theme has recommended grade levels, each tour is tailored to be age- and grade-level appropriate
Guided tours meet the following Michigan Visual Arts Standards for grades K-12.
Standard 3: Analyze, describe, and evaluate works of art.
Standard 4: Understand, analyze, and describe the arts in their historical, social, and cultural contexts.
Standard 5: Recognize, analyze, and describe connections among the arts; between the arts and other disciplines; between the arts and everyday life.
Building Blocks of Art
Recommended for Pre-K-2nd grade.
Join us for an interactive docent-guided tour that encourages students to explore the museum through the elements of art. As they travel through the galleries, students will search for shapes, lines, colors, and patterns in works from the permanent collection or special exhibitions. Through guided discussion, close-looking activities, and age-appropriate engagement, students will be encouraged to share their observations, ideas, and feelings about the artwork.
Storytelling Through Art
Recommended for all grade levels.
Discover how artists use visual art to tell stories, share experiences, and communicate ideas. During this docent-guided tour, students will explore works from across the museum’s galleries and examine how artists use subjects, symbols, colors, and composition to convey meaning. Through close looking, discussion, and interactive activities, students will investigate the stories behind the artwork while sharing their own observations, interpretations, and connections.
Art and Society
Recommended for 6th-12th grades.
Artists often use their work to respond to events, ideas, and challenges in the world around them. On this docent-guided tour, students will investigate artworks from across the museum’s galleries and discuss how they reflect the social, political, cultural, and historical contexts in which they were created. Through guided conversations and activities, students will explore themes that connect the past and present while developing their own interpretations and opinions.
Self-Guided Group Visits
We understand that some teachers want to bring their students and follow a specific plan. You are absolutely welcome to do this.
Self-Guided Group Details:
Pre-K-12 groups are free.
Visits can be scheduled during open hours, Wednesday through Saturday from 11:00 am- 5:00 pm and Sunday from Noon-4:00 pm.
ArtLabs cannot be added to self-guided group visits.
One chaperone is required per every ten students and must be 18 years of age or older. While teachers fulfill the chaperone requirement, paraprofessionals do not. They are welcome and encouraged to attend; however their primary responsibility is supporting individual students, while chaperones are responsible for supervising the group.
We can accommodate up to 60 students in the galleries at a time.If you would like to bring more than 60 students on a particular day, they will need to come in groups of 60 or less in one hour increments. We can accommodate up to 3 groups of 60 students per day (180 students total). If you need to bring more than 180 students, you will need to schedule a second visit on another day.
Self-guided visits must be scheduled at least two weeks in advance.
We are not currently booking self-guided tours for the 2026–27 school year. Please check back in mid-August.
ArtLabs
Add an ArtLab to any guided tour to extend your students’ museum experience, while at the KIA or back at school.
Students will participate in a hands-on art-making lesson related to the artworks they viewed during their guided tour. They will spend an hour in the studio or in your classroom (within a 25-mile radius of the KIA) with a professional artist-educator who will cultivate their personal, unique vision to create original artwork. Young artists will exercise their creative, critical-thinking, and analytical skills to increase their visual literacy through the language of art.
If you choose to have a teaching artist come to your classroom for an ArtLab after your tour, someone from Museum Education will contact you to schedule.
Other ArtLab details:
ArtLabs are $8 per student. Currently, students in grades 3–8 can participate in ArtLabs for free.
Due to staffing and supply requirements, there is a $50 fee to cancel a scheduled ArtLab.
ArtLabs are only available with a docent-guided tour, Wednesday-Friday during the school year (September-May). They are not available on the weekends or during the summer (June-August).
ArtLabs are sponsored by PNC Foundation for the 2025–26 school year.
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