K-12 Guided Tours
About Our Tours
At the Ackland, we design immersive and engaging guided experiences with art from our exhibitions and collection, in addition to thematic tours. Tours are always planned with your grade level and learning goals in mind and help students “look close and think far.”
A few practical details:
- Tours and admission to the Museum are FREE
- Guided and self-guided tours occur Wednesday through Friday between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. They are typically one hour in length
- Masks are optional inside the Ackland
- Larger guided groups are divided into smaller groups of 15 students
- Each group requires one chaperone for every 15 students
- Hand-sanitizing stations are available at multiple locations throughout the museum
- Funding for transportation and substitute teacher expenses are available
- We offer tools to make planning your visit easy:
Tools for making your visit more meaningful:
Browse the list of tours described below. As you review them, explore the related Pre/Post Visit Materials to use in your classroom before and after a Museum visit.
Spend More Time on Campus
Make the most of your time on campus by combining your Ackland experience with a visit to the Morehead Planetarium & Science Center, North Carolina Botanical Garden, or North Carolina Collection Gallery at Wilson Library.
We can’t wait to see you at the Ackland!
EXHIBITION AND COLLECTION TOURS
The Outwin: American Portraiture Today
Tours offered November 8, 2023 – January 21, 2024.
Consider the ways portraiture, a visible means of representing identity, offers insight into what is important to the people depicted, our community, and how we see ourselves. Limited to 40 students; recommended for grades K-12.
Image credit:
Rania Matar (American, born in Lebanon, 1964), Minty, Kayla, Leyah, and Layla, Cambridge, Massachusetts (detail), 2020, inkjet print, image: 28 13/16 x 36 in. (73.2 x 91.4 cm). Collection of the artist, courtesy of Robert Klein Gallery, Boston. © Rania Matar.
Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum
Tours offered February 21 – April 28, 2024.
Explore Native American works of art that span over a three-thousand-year period, many from the heartland of the United States, addressing themes of symbolism, ceremony, sovereignty, and identity. Limited to 40 students; recommended for grades K-12.
Image credit:
Stephen Mopope (Kiowa, 1898-1974), Indian Gathering, 1933, oil on canvas, framed: 22 1/2 x 48 in. (57.2 x 121.9 cm). Gift of the Thomas Gilcrease Foundation, 1964. Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK.
Arts of Asia and Africa
Examine art from diverse parts of Africa and Asia, and learn about their significance to the people who made and used them in their original settings. Limited to 30 students and recommended for Grades 4–12.
Arts of Europe
Investigate the artistic traditions of European art from classical times to the twentieth century and consider ways the human figure and the natural world are represented. Limited to 60 students and recommended for Grades 4–12.
Modern and Contemporary Art
Explore the expressive and experimental ways that artists have responded to changes in society and the environment since the late nineteenth century. Limited to 30 students and recommended for Grades 4–12.
World Cultures
Travel the globe as you discover ways that diverse peoples and cultures from ancient times through the twentieth-century communicate their values and beliefs through artistic expression. Limited to 45 students and recommended for Grades 4–12.
Collection Highlights
Experience works of art in the Ackland collection, focusing on their distinctive visual characteristics and historical significance. Limited to 60 students and recommended for Grades 4–12.
Thematic Tours
AP Art History: Global Connections: Ancient to Twentieth-Century Art
Explore artistic traditions of people and cultures from around the globe and find common themes expressed in objects across time. Ninety-minute tour limited to 45 students and recommended for Grades 10–12.
AP Art History: Art from Asia and Africa
Discover the central importance of nature, belief, and ritual in art from Africa and Asia. Ninety-minute tour limited to 45 students and recommended for Grades 10–12.
Stories in Art
Have fun learning to “read” stories in art from a variety of times and places. Limited to 60 students and recommended for Grades K–3.
Joy of Looking
Discover the joy of looking carefully, thinking critically, and engaging with works of art from around the world. Limited to 60 students and recommended for Grades K–12.
Custom Tour
Ackland educators will work with you to create a customized experience for your students to match your curriculum needs or themes you are exploring in your classroom. Limited to 60 students and recommended for Grades K–12.