Spark your imagination with art!
The Blanton provides engaging, interactive, and inquiry-based tours for K-12 students. From focused explorations of regional artistic trends to tours that tie special exhibitions to broader themes, our tour offerings encourage students to draw connections between their lives and the world around them. Tours at the Blanton reinforce classroom objectives in art, as well as social studies, language arts, mathematics, and science, and are designed to support TEKS objectives.
Schools in Austin ISD, Del Valle ISD, Hay Consolidated ISD, and Manor ISD that demonstrate financial need are eligible for the Blanton Art Access program, which seeks to increase K-12 student access to the museum by offering funding for transportation and tour fees on a first-come, first-served basis. To learn more about this opportunity, email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Special Exhibition Tours
- Exploring World Cultures: How does art reflect the culture in which it was made? Explore other time periods and cultures through objects such as ancient Mayan vessels, Greek vases, African masks, Chinese jade, Renaissance paintings, and Old Master prints and drawings and so much more. Recommended for 4th-12th grade. Available until May 17, 2013.
- Through the Eyes of Texas Tour: Discover extraordinary places, both real and imagined, through the art in Through the Eyes of Texas: Masterworks from Alumni Collections. Discover art objects from the ancient Mayans and Greeks to nineteenth and twentieth-century European masterworks to contemporary international art. Available until May 17, 2013.
School Tours
- Look & Learn: Enhance visual literacy by carefully examining and discussing highlights from the museum’s permanent collection. This introductory tour is recommended for first-time visitors to the museum and may be adapted for all ages.
- Destination Europe: Learn about sixteenth-, seventeenth-, and eighteenth-century European culture and discuss some of the ordinary and extraordinary people who lived there.
- America/Americas: Investigate modern and contemporary works from North, South, and Central America by discussing major twentieth-century events and how artists responded to them in their works.
- Story Time Tour: Bring your young art lovers on these interactive tours that combine reading children’s literature with learning about works of art. Recommended for Pre-K to 2nd grade.
- Art Now: Examine artistic messages and mediums on this tour that uses contemporary artwork from the Blanton’s permanent collection. Recommended for 6th–12th grade.
- Made to Order Tour: Create a one-of-a-kind tour in collaboration with Museum Education staff specifically aligned with your class curriculum and students' needs.
Self-guided Visits
The Blanton offers self-guided resources to assist teachers as they plan, develop, and lead their own group tour.
Art & Relationships: Considers how interpersonal relationships, personal connections, and human interactions are expressed in a range of works of art from the museum’s collection. Recommended for 4th-6th grade.
Art & Identity: Investigates issues of identity and self-definition by having students closely observe and discuss objects from the Blanton collection. Recommended for 7th-9th grade.
Scheduling Your Tour
- We can accommodate up to 75 docent-led students or 35 self-guided students per hour. Larger groups may be scheduled for back-to-back tours.
- Guided tours are scheduled on the hour, while self-guided visits are scheduled on the half hour. K - 3rd graders must be led by a docent.
- Tours are 50 minutes long and may be available Tuesday to Thursday from 10 am to 3 pm and Friday from 9 am to 3 pm.
- School tours and self-guided visits are $2 per student, including on Thursdays. Required chaperones and teachers accompanying school groups are free. Additional adults pay regular admission price of $9.
- K-12 groups must bring one adult chaperone for every eight students. Chaperones must stay with the group.
To schedule a tour, please fill out our online form at least three weeks in advance.
Preparing for Your Tour
- Please review with your students the museum guidelines included in your tour confirmation
- Box lunches for school groups can be ordered through the café a minimum of four business days in advance. Contact Charlie Skipsey with the Blanton Café to place an order.
Art Central Program
The Art Central Program allows 4th and 5th grade students to visit the museum four times during the school year in order to foster a deep engagement with works of art. The program introduces and reinforces description, analysis, and interpretation of art through inquiry-based discussion and writing activities, and teaches students about museum careers.
The program's four lessons are: Discovering the Museum, Exploring Art, Making Meaning, and Pulling It All Together. Pre- and post-visit lessons are taught by participating teachers to reinforce ideas explored during museum visits. Teachers in the program receive free transportation and admission for their Art Central students, as well as teacher training and resources to implement the program. Space in the program is limited and by application only.
For more information about Art Central, please contact Jennifer Garner at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or (512) 471-3564. For teachers in the program, schedule your Art Central visits online.
Teacher Professional Development and Resources
- Sand Mandala Project: Events and construction during museum hours Wednesday, Jan. 9 to Sunday, Jan. 13 in the atrium of the Blanton
Tibetan Buddhist monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery visit the Blanton to construct a magnificent tantric Buddhist mandala sand painting. During the week, millions of grains of crushed marble are painstakingly laid into place in this ancient spiritual art form. Teachers who attend the lecture on Saturday, Jan. 12 at 2pm will receive 2 hours of CPE credit.
- Art + Online is a multimedia resource that offers educators and students dynamic connections between art and another discipline through lessons, images, and videos. They are:
- Educator Membership: K-12 educators receive all the perks of membership plus these special offers:
- $10 Educator discount on any membership level
- 20% off teacher workshops
- To become a member, visit our membership page.
Support for K-12 education programs at the Blanton is provided by the Burdine Johnson Foundation, the Lowe Foundation, The Campbell Foundation, the Kinder Morgan Foundation, Tokyo Electron, a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts, and by an anonymous donor.
Additional support is provided by The Brown Foundation Inc. Education Endowment and the Burdine Johnson Foundation Education Endowment.