Teachers and Schools
Single-Visit School Tours
Single-visit school experiences allow students to make connections between their classroom learning, works of art, and their own lives. All experiences are free of charge and include an interactive gallery lesson and hands-on artmaking. All visits are aligned with Ohio’s Learning Standards and are adapted to grade level and educational goals.
Tours are scheduled Wednesday through Friday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. A minimum of 15 students is required to schedule a school tour. Explore current offerings below.
Customize your students’ experience at the Taft with exhibitions and create deeper engagement and learning opportunities.
Students will develop key visual literacy and creative thinking skills (such as observation, interpretation, and collective group discussion) while exploring the many treasures in the Taft’s collection. Each experience can be customized to meet specific educational and curriculum goals.
Social Studies Aligned
Art holds a mirror up to society, reflecting and commenting on social issues that affect us all. Through unique experiences with works of art in the Taft’s collection, students will examine how art can address topics such as identity, the interaction of people and groups, and nature and the environment.
Social Studies, Fine Arts Aligned
This program focuses on the story of the first Black American artist to achieve international prominence: Robert S. Duncanson. Students will learn Duncanson’s personal story, what his life was like in Cincinnati during the Civil War era, and how the nearly 175-year-old murals painted on the walls of the foyer at the Taft played a part in his success.
English Language Arts Aligned
This program takes a closer look at the connection between visual and language arts. Students will discover how artists, like writers, use concepts like character, setting, plot, and sequence to create a narrative in works of art.
English Language Arts Aligned
Art reflects human experience – the people, events, emotions, and more that fill our lives. The visual arts convey meaning and messages about these experiences and provide opportunities to better understand ourselves and the people and world around us. Through engagement with works of art, students will learn how to combine visual information, prior knowledge and experiences, and contextual information to discern meaning.
Multi-Visit School Tours
Art for All is a free program that provides additional arts engagement that ensures students at eligible* schools benefit from enriching art experiences. Students will participate in a museum visit and two classroom visits by a professional teaching artist where they complete an art-making project inspired by their museum experience. Teachers may select to focus on English Language Arts, Social Studies, or the current special exhibition. Busing is free.
*Eligibility is defined as 50% or more students receiving free lunch.
The Taft Museum of Art’s Artists Reaching Classrooms (ARC) program immerses high school art students in Cincinnati’s visual arts community and exposes them to careers in the arts, provides access to professional artists and studios, and includes a professionally organized art exhibition featuring their work. All aspects of the program, including buses for field trips, are offered to participating schools free of charge. Each year, the Taft Museum of Art enrolls 8 schools in this program.
Homeschool families are invited to participate in a unique learning experience specifically designed to meet their needs. Students will explore the galleries with the guidance of volunteer educators and creatively express their learning through artmaking. Participants can drop-in at any point during the session and move through the experience at their own pace. Registration is preferred and the cost is $5 per person.