Join us for guided tours! MAG offers exciting ways to bring our collection to life and to connect students and teachers with art from around the world. We offer in-person tours of temporary exhibitions and the permanent collections, and we also offer synchronous virtual tours of the permanent collections via a video conferencing platform during regular school hours. All school tours complement the New York State Standards: K-5 and 6-12. If accommodations are needed for any student, please let us know! Requests for tours in American Sign Language, French, German, and Spanish are welcome.
To book a tour, fill out the school tour request form. To ask questions, please email tours@mag.rochester.edu or call 585.276.8974.
In-Person Tours
- Available Tuesday through Friday
- Fees: $7 per person (students and adults), scholarships available upon request
- Tours are 45 minutes long for K-1st grades and 60 minutes long for 2nd grade and up
- Tours are led by docents, and one will be in touch to plan the tour after it is booked
- Self-guided tours are welcome, but must be booked in advance
- Students are welcome to visit the Gallery Store with an adult chaperone when the store is open
- Additional time beyond the tour for drawing and writing exercises must be requested in advance
- Please review the museum guidelines before arriving
Virtual Tours
- Available Monday through Friday
- Fees: $3 per person
- Tours can be up to 45 minutes long
- Virtual tours are led by MAG educators and/or docents, and one will be in touch to plan the tour after it is booked
Directions to MAG
New York State Thruway (I-90) from the east: From Exit 45, follow I-490 West to Goodman St. exit; turn right on Goodman and continue on past University Ave.; enter the parking lot on the left.
New York State Thruway (I-90) from the west: From Exit 46, follow Routes I-390 North to I-590 North to I-490 West; from I-490, take Goodman St. exit; turn right on Goodman and continue on past University Ave.; enter the parking lot on the left.
- Buses should proceed from the Goodman Street entrance to the Tour Entrance at the rear of the building. Students must remain on the bus until the time of the tour.
- Buses should be parked in Lot C after the students are dropped off.
- Buses should be boarded immediately after the tour at the Tour Entrance, unless special arrangements have been made in advance for additional time in the Gallery.
Tours of the Permanent Collection
While each tour is personalized according to your class’s needs, we have some popular themes to build upon.
Animals in Art
Virtual and In-Person
Discover the Gallery’s own animal kingdom through artworks that explore animals’ amazing attributes, homey habitats and roles in significant stories from many cultures. Come armed only with keen senses and animal facts.
Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Science, Social Studies
Grade Level: Elementary
Art and ELA: Storytelling
Virtual and In-Person
How do artists tell stories? Look for clues to setting, characters, plot, action, and outcome in artworks, and use critical thinking skills to “read” the story in a work of art. Developed especially for 3rd and 4th grades by MAG and the Rochester City School District.
Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA
Grade Level: Elementary
Art History
Virtual and In-Person
Trace the numerous styles, themes and materials explored by artists of many cultures using representative artworks in the Gallery’s collection. Tours may focus on any aspect of art history; please discuss your objectives and plans with the docent during the pre-visit call.
Curriculum Connections: Art
Grade Level: Secondary
Genesee Journey
Virtual and In-Person
Follow the stories of upstate New York, Rochester, and the Memorial Art Gallery itself through artworks in the Gallery’s collections. Portraits, landscapes and decorative objects all provide a glimpse into aspects of American life in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies
Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary
Learning to Look: An Introduction to the Gallery
Virtual and In-Person
What is an art museum? What can you learn by looking at an artwork? Students of all ages explore the Gallery’s collections through finding details, learning new vocabulary and sharing their own observations.
Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies
Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary
Many Faces, Many Places
Virtual and In-Person
Travel through time and space and hone observational skills on a cross-cultural world tour. Come face-to-face with artworks such as masks, paintings and statues representing cultures from major world regions, including the Arctic, Central and South America, Europe, Asia, ancient Egypt and sub-Saharan Africa.
Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies
Grade Level: Elementary
Passport to the Past
Virtual and In-Person
Explore universal themes of civilization such as writing, religion, and burial customs through artworks and artifacts 500 to 5,000 years old, representing the MAG’s Mesopotamian, Egyptian, East Asian, Greek, Roman and Medieval, and Renaissance European collections.
Curriculum Connections: Art, Social Studies (Grades 6, 9, AP World History)
Grade Level: Secondary
Sacred Stories, Myths, and Legends
Virtual and In-Person
“Listen” to artworks with a story to tell, “hear” how culture influences art and “see” how beliefs and stories pass down through narrative and symbolic art. Compare and contrast ancient beliefs and living traditions from diverse cultures, including Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies
Grade Level: Secondary
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
In-Person Only
Based on the popular book by E.L. Konigsberg. Explore a real art museum like Jamie and Claudia (but only for an hour, not for a week), view and compare artworks similar to those described (but no bathing in the fountains) and imagine being a character in the story. This tour is particularly appropriate as a culminating activity for a class reading project.
Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA
Grade Level: Elementary
Tours of Temporary Exhibitions
In-Person Only
Broaden your students’ vision, as well as your own, through tours of special exhibits drawn from museums around the world and from MAG’s own collections. Preview current & upcoming exhibitions and then email tours@mag.rochester.edu or call 585.276.8974 to schedule a tour.
Gallery Guides
Download guides to these areas of the collection:
- Helen H. Berkeley Gallery of Ancient Art
- At the Crossroads: Ancient, Middle Eastern, and Islamic Art
- Fountain Court: Baroque Art
The Memorial Art Gallery’s 2021-22 School Programs are sponsored by ESL Charitable Foundation, Anne O’Toole, Jane Colangelo, and an anonymous foundation. Funding is also provided by Monroe County and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Additional support for School Programs is provided by the John C. and Elsa C. Beach and Eileen M. Sullivan Education Endowment, the Docent Endowment Fund, the Emma Jane Drury Education Fund, the Patricia S. Fishman Educational Endowment, the Joanna M. and Michael R. Grosodonia Fund, the Frank Grosso and Diane Holahan Grosso Fund, the Mary Sue Jack Endowed Fund, the Memorial Art Gallery Community Access Endowment, the Mary Ann Monley and William D. Rice Education Endowment, and the Josephine Tota Endowment.
The McPherson Director of Academic Programs is partially endowed by an anonymous donor and supported by the Joan Feinbloom School Programming Fund. Support for the Estelle B. Goldman Assistant Curator of Academic Programs is provided by the Estate of Estelle B. Goldman.
