Student Groups and ArtLabs

The KIA is happy to welcome school groups for self-guided visits and interactive docent-guided tours designed to spark curiosity and conversation. Please review the information below in order to determine which option would be best for your group. Feel free to reach out to with any questions.

Currently, K-12 docent-guided tours and self-guided visits are free. This is made possible by generous support from the PNC Foundation and Stryker.

All K-12 Group Visit Details

  • School tours can be scheduled Wednesday through Friday, 10am–3:30pm.
  • Tours must be scheduled at least four weeks in advance of your preferred tour date.
  • 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.
  • In addition to the required chaperones, up to two extra chaperones may attend for free. Additional chaperones are $8 each.
  • Qualifying Kalamazoo County K-12 school groups pay only $50 for bussing costs. Find information here about KRESA/EFA’s offer.

K-12 Tours

Docent-Guided Tours

This hour-long experience will be led by one of our knowledgeable volunteer docents. The content of the tour will be based on the tour theme you choose.

Tour Themes

Building Blocks of Art
Recommended for all grade levels.

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 Tours

Self-guided visits give teachers the flexibility to explore the museum in a way that works best for their students. Move through the galleries at your own pace, stop to look closely at artworks, and lead discussions around the themes and ideas that are most meaningful to your group. Stay for as little or as much time as you’d like.

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 on a day after your tour, someone from Museum Education will contact you to schedule.

ArtLab Details

  • ArtLabs are $8 per student, a $50 deposit is required.
  • Currently, students in grades 1-8 can participate in ArtLabs for free. This is made possible by generous support from the PNC Foundation.
  • If the ArtLab is canceled within two weeks of your visit, the deposit is nonrefundable.
  • For groups whose ArtLabs are free and therefore did not pay a deposit, a $50 cancellation fee will be charged if the ArtLab is canceled within two weeks of the visit.
  • This experience will add an hour to your visit.
  • ArtLabs are only offered with docent-guided tours and are only available Wednesday-Friday from September to June.

STEAM Tour and ArtLab. New in 2026!

During this hour-long docent-guided tour, students will investigate how artists use STEM components (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) to create works of art. Through close looking, discussion, and interactive activities, students will discover the many ways science, technology, engineering, and math work together with art.

Teachers may also choose to add an ArtLab to the visit that will build on the ideas explored during the tour. Students will spend an additional hour in a Kirk Newman Art School studio experimenting with shapes and colors while creating their own artwork inspired by the works they discovered in the galleries.

This STEAM tour and ArtLab are free and available for grades 1-5 only. ArtLabs are only available Wednesday-Friday during the school year (September-May). They are not available on the weekends or during the summer (June-August).

STEAM tours and ArtLabs are made possible by generous support from Stryker.

Preschool Tours

Docent-Guided Tours
During this 45-minute docent-led experience, students will begin by reading a story in the galleries and then explore artworks through close looking, conversation, and interactive activities. Designed especially for preschoolers, this tour encourages children to share their ideas, make connections, and explore art while developing creative and critical thinking skills.

Preschool docent-guided tours are $20 per class for up to 15 students. For classes with more than 15 students, an additional $1.50 per student will apply. One chaperone is required for every 10 students, with a maximum of four chaperones. Up to four required chaperones are included in the tour fee. Additional chaperones are $8 each.

Self-Guided Tours
Self-guided visits give teachers the flexibility to explore the museum in a way that works best for their students. Move through the galleries at your own pace, stop to look closely at artworks, and lead discussions around the themes and ideas that are most meaningful to your group. Stay for as little or as much time as you’d like.

General admission fees apply. View admission rates on our Plan Your Visit page.

ArtLabs
Offsite ArtLabs are available to preschool groups participating in a docent-guided tour. A member of the KIA Museum Education team will visit your classroom and spend about an hour leading a hands-on art-making experience inspired by the artworks students explored during their museum visit. The cost is $8 per student, and your school must be located within 25 miles of the KIA.

A $50 deposit will be due within two weeks of receiving your tour confirmation. After your visit, we’ll send an invoice based on your final attendance, and your deposit will be credited toward the total cost. Please note that ArtLabs require advance planning for staffing and materials. If you cancel your ArtLab within two weeks of your scheduled visit, your $50 deposit is nonrefundable.

Chaperone Responsibilities
2026-27 School Tour Info
Request a Tour

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