School Tours
School tours at the Milwaukee Art Museum support critical thinking, creativity, and visual literacy skills. For more information, please review the School and Teacher Programs Brochure or contact Group Tours at 414-224-3842 or grouptours@mam.org.
Planning Your Visit
Be sure to order buses/transportation early! Additionally, please tell us about any special needs when you request your tour. The Museum is wheelchair accessible. Assistive listening technology or an ASL interpreter for people with hearing impairments is available when requested at time of reservation.
Before Your Tour
Confirm your headcount with the Tour Scheduler two weeks before your tour. Please Note: No changes in headcount or program/tour will be accepted after the two-week deadline. The Museum cannot offer a refund if your headcount decreases after your payment has been made, and cannot accept payment at the door.
Prepare students for your trip by watching the Museum Manners video.
Prepare chaperones: You will need one chaperone per 12 students; those chaperones are admitted free. (You will be charged $14 per additional adult.) Make sure they know the Chaperone Responsibilities–or have them watch the Museum Manners video.
Organize student groups: 12 students and one chaperone per group. Each student and adult will need a name-tag; this acts as their admission into the Museum.
What to Bring
Name-tags: Each student and adult in your group must wear a name-tag that you supply. These act as your admission into the Museum.
Clipboards/pencils (Optional): If you would like to have your class write or draw, please bring your own clipboards, pencils, paper, or other drawing materials. Remember only pencils are allowed in the galleries to protect the artwork.
Do Not Bring...Your lunch! The Museum does not have on-site lunch facilities. Please plan your visit accordingly. The Tour Scheduler can supply you with an up-to-date list of alternatives.
When You Arrive
Enter the Museum’s School Group Entrance to the south of the Main Entrance on N. Art Museum Drive unless otherwise directed by the Tour Scheduler. Please remain on bus until greeted by Museum staff.
Your bus cannot park on N. Art Museum Drive but it may park along Lincoln Memorial Drive, in Veterans Park, and at other public locations.
Be on time: Arrive no more than 15 minutes early. Note that if you are late, your tour will be shortened. If you are delayed, please call the Tour Scheduler at 414-224-3842.
Fees and Chaperones
School tours are $5 per student. One adult per 12 students is required as a chaperone; these adults are admitted for free.
Complimentary Family Passes
You will receive one free Family Pass for each student you bring on your school tour! Family Passes provide free admission to the Milwaukee Art Museum for two adults and up to four children 17 and younger.
Family Passes are sponsored by the Terri and Verne Holoubek Family Foundation.
View current + upcoming Exhibitions »
Resources for Your Trip
- Advocate for your trip with this letter to your principal.
- Review state and national standards met by the Museum’s tours and programs.
- Prepare your chaperones
- Try one of our classroom activities.
Apply for a 2020–2021 Field Trip Grant
Museum Manners
Prepare your students by watching the Museum Manners video.
Multidisciplinary Tours
Geometry + Art
Discover shapes and patterns everywhere you look during a docent-guided, geometry-themed tour of the Milwaukee Art Museum
Optional: Go hands-on at Betty Brinn Children’s Museum with guided exploration and play—additional fees apply. Register with the Milwaukee Art Museum and then call Betty Brinn Children’s Museum at 414-390-5437.
History + Art
Art From Artists of the African Diaspora
Grades 5–12 | 1 hour | $5 per student
Join the Milwaukee Art Museum for a special tour in honor of the local and national history of African Americans and people of African descent. Explore works of art on a docent-guided tour of Art from Artists of the African Diaspora.
War Memorial Center Tour + Museum Tour
Grades 4–12 | 1½ hours | $10 per student
Join the War Memorial Center and the Milwaukee Art Museum for a special tour that examines American stories and resilience from a variety of perspectives. Students will enjoy a 45-minute guided tour of the War Memorial Center and a 45-minute docent-led tour of the Milwaukee Art Museum that looks at diverse American stories on resilience from past to present.
Note: Space is limited. Please be flexible when requesting dates.
Women in Art Tour
Grades 4–12 | 1 hours | $5 per student
Explore the lives of women through both the way they have been portrayed in art across time and their contributions as female forces in the art world.
Life Sciences + Art
Discover connections between art and the life sciences. See how artists use their senses and borrow from the sciences to observe the natural world. View works of arts that cover living things from plants to wildlife and humans.
Optional: Visit Discovery World to continue your exploration of the living world! Examine living fish from Lake Michigan and see firsthand how science uses art for animal identification. Additional fees apply for Discovery World. Register with the Milwaukee Art Museum, and then call Discovery World at 414-765-8625.
Museum Tour + Studio Workshop
Studio Workshop School Program
Grades PK–12 | 2 hours | $10 per student
Be the Artist! Students explore the Museum’s Collection on a tour of your choice, and then complete an art project connected to the tour theme. Note: Space is limited. Please be flexible when requesting dates.
Music + Art
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Concert and Museum Tour
Extend your MSO Concert for Schools experience with a docent-guided tour of the Museum’s works that relate to concert themes.
Peter and the Wolf: Music and Me Concert
Nov 5–6, 2019
Grades K–2 | $5 per student
American Reflections: This is Us
Oct 1 & Nov 19, 2019
Grades 3–8 | $5 per student
Beethoven: A Birthday Celebration
Jan 21 or Jan 28, 2020
Grades 3–8
Additional fees apply for MSO. Register with the MSO at 414-226-7886 and then call the Milwaukee Art Museum.
Theater + Art
First Stage Performance Workshop and Animals in Art Tour
Grades K–3 | 1½ hours | $10 per student
Enjoy a First Stage performance workshop paired with a docent-guided tour of the Museum’s works related to Animals in Art. Students will discover a menagerie of friendly animals and fantastic beasts in paintings and sculptures throughout the Museum. Their imaginations will help them transform into animals with the help of First Stage Teaching Artists during the workshop. NOTE: Space is limited. Please book early.
Writing + Art Docent-Guided Tour
Grades 4–12 | 1½ hours | $10 per student
This tour, inspired by the National Writing Project at Carroll University and grounded in the Six Traits of Writing framework, introduces the Museum as a place of inspiration for writing. After receiving their own Museum journals/sketchbooks, students look closely at works of art, using a variety of writing skills, developing a descriptive word bank, and practicing "low stakes" writing.
School Tour Programs
Junior Docent School Program
Grades 3–5 | 1–1½ hours per visit | $5 per student per tour
For more than forty years, the Junior Docent School Program has introduced elementary school students to the vocabulary, elements, and history of art while developing critical thinking skills. Over three consecutive years, students visit ten times, contextualizing art into their life. After a culminating project presented to their peers and family, they become official Junior Docents!
To be added to the waiting list for this program, please email teachers@mam.org. This program is run through schools. If you are a parent looking for art opportunities for your child, please refer to Youth and Family Classes.
Art of Writing Conference
The Milwaukee Art Museum also hosts the Art of Writing Conference which allows aspiring authors and artists to draw experience from the museum's extensive gallery and collaborate to create something personal and truly unique.
